Book Focus

In the Garden

Here’s a lovely book to read aloud, especially as the flowers bloom in your schoolyard garden. The Flower Ball (Pumpkin House), written by Sigrid Laube and illustrated by Silke Leffler, tells the brave story of Cauliflower and Carrot, the vegetables who wanted to dance with the flowers on the other side of the fence. “Better not to have anything to do with them,” snapped the Pea. ”Those fancy-pansies, those fluff-puffs, those ornamental dandies….” At first, the welcome from the flowers is equally wilted—“Oh my!” [Carnation] exclaimed. “Raw vegetables—how dreadfully crude!”  But Cauliflower and Carrot wow them with their delicious dancing and their genuine delight, and soon all prejudices are put aside.