Secrets of the Garden: Food Chains and the Food Web in Our Backyard

Perfect for spring planting season–an outstanding book about backyard science the whole family will appreciate. Alice’s family plants a vegetable garden each spring, and this budding naturalist reports all she sees about how the plants grow, what insects come to eat the plants, and what birds and animals come to eat the insects. It’s the food chain, right in her own backyard! While Alice’s narrative is simple and engaging, science concepts are presented in more depth in sidebars by a pair of very knowledgeable (and highly amusing) chickens! Noted science writer Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld knows how to layer information to make it accessible to a wide range of readers and useful for educators. And illustrator Priscilla Lamont’s funny, friendly paintings make this a garden everyone will want to explore. Kids will eat up this wonderful book of backyard science–and perhaps they’ll even be inspired to eat their vegetables! “A wonderfully informative and enjoyable journey through one family’s backyard garden, from spring planting to fall harvest. . . . this is bound to spark some backyard explorations.” –Kirkus, Starred Review