The Weedy Garden: A Happy Habitat for Wild Friends

PreS-Gr 3–Renkl (for adults, The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year) collaborates on her debut work for young readers with her brother, a fine artist. Shimmering collages accompany text that posits the beauty of delights to be found in an unruly habitat. “If you’re a hungry squirrel, you sniff the damp leaves that fell in the weedy garden last fall.” To the butterfly, “You are searching for a safe place to put his eggs. There it is! Butterfly weed!” There are rabbits sleeping away from the hawk’s eye, and a tired turtle lugging its “house” through weeds. The illustrations render this buzz of activity in close-up views, which take cues from the grand descriptions of the text but do not become too literal. Like realistic watercolors, the pages create a gallery of images for young readers to pore over, and they will soon want to find a weedy garden of their own.