10/07/2024
Thistle’s second collection of tales inspired by animals in her garden, after Under the Garden Gate, is a quaint gathering of poems describing the comings and goings of delightful backyard creatures, including cats, alligators, blue jays, chipmunks, and more. “We double flap our wings… fast as lightning through the air” delicate hummingbirds serenade in “Forest Fairies,” conjuring their daily activities in gentle prose: “first we hover, // then we’re gone. // As we sing a happy song.” Each poem in this inspiring collection is framed by Thistle’s muted pencil sketches, portraying the book’s animals in wispy, subdued form.
In Thistle’s garden, “all are welcome,” and her book rightly celebrates the wonders of that animal world. In “Jump Around,” the narrator identifies various creatures idling on the ground, recommending that readers give them space instead of crushing them underfoot: “Don’t step on the newt, // they’re really quite cute. // Say ‘Hello’ then jump around.” Thistle’s rhymes are simple but memorable, delivering a profound lesson to young readers on the stewardship of outdoor spaces as well as relaying important conservation principles—particularly a sense of community with the natural world.
Much of Thistle’s writing aims for education, like “Wiggle and Bound,” a poem following a family of fisher cats as the babies listen to instruction from their mother: “I’ll show you the path, // I’ll show you the stream, // I’ll show you the rose bush, // remember, always to dream.” Young readers unfamiliar with fisher cats will be enticed to learn more about them, just as Thistle’s “Trinkets and Treasures” opens a world of different birds to children, through exploring an abandoned nest that transforms into a new home. Though Thistle’s illustrations are restrained, her poems are joyful, whimsical, and above all commemorative of the animal kingdom that brings her backyard to life.
Takeaway: Whimsical poem collection describing animals’ garden journeys.
Comparable Titles: Maggie Davis’s A Garden of Whales, Kevin Henkes’s My Garden.
Production grades Cover: B Design and typography: B Illustrations: B- Editing: B- Marketing copy: B+
