Review of "Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt," by Kate Messner with art by Christopher Silas Neal

Review of

Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, by Kate Messner with art by Christopher Silas Neal ISBN 9781452119366

Five out of five stars

 This book describes the cycle of the seasons within a personal vegetable garden. While the humans work in the garden, the emphasis is on the creatures that live with the plants. Everything from the lowly worms and bugs that aerate the soil and consume organic matter, to the skunks that eat the grubs and the snakes that consume the insects to the birds and other flying creatures that pollinate and eat harmful insects.

 This is an important lesson for children, where they learn that the action in a garden is very complex, with a great deal of critical action taking place in the soil and unseen. A vegetable garden is a complex ecosystem with many critical parts that must work well together. From this book the young reader will learn that while gardens are a lot of work for humans, much of the real work is done by creatures that are critical and generally taken for granted.