Author Description

First-grade gardener Gertie Green's social skills are tested when she joins the school garden club in this beautifully illustrated early reader chapter book about self confidence, consideration, and learning how to say you're sorry. When Grandma Trudy doesn't volunteer to help in the school garden club, Gertie is the only one there who knows EVERYTHING about growing vegetables. She tries to help her friends, but soon they're calling her a bossy know-it-all. Janie says you have to just wait and see how things are going to turn out. But how can something turn out all right if it starts out all wrong? Meanwhile, Gertie's big sister Liza looks to Gertie for help after watching a scary movie with her friends, and Gertie starts seeing monsters everywhere. So when the garden club encounters a strange creature in one of their raised beds, Gertie knows exactly what it is and what they need to do about it. In the mayhem that follows, though, she finds that no matter how much you know, there is always something more to learn. This is the third book in this beautifully illustrated, early reader chapter book series about friendship, gardening, and the power and importance of being yourself. Each book features a different vegetable as a key part of the story and includes how-to-grow information for young gardeners. Visit the Free Digital Downloads tab of the publisher's website (shelfspacebooks.com) for an extensive selection of companion resources to go along with the Gertie in the Garden books, like food and gardening activities and coloring books. The Gertie in the Garden series is so engaging... growing vegetables and even playing with them will encourage kids to view healthy foods as helping them negotiate their way in the world. Kids will love these books (and parents will too). Marion Nestle, Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, New York University