GRANNY ROOT GROWS FRUIT

Berries, apples, and pears, yum!

With the help of the child narrator, the aptly named Granny Root grows berry bushes and fruit trees, harvests when it’s time, and then eats or preserves the bounty. This entry in the author’s four-book Follow My Food series provides a step-by-step account of fruit growing with simple words and colorful, stylized pictures. Granny and the youngster prepare the soil, plant berry bushes and seedlings, prune, and weed. Putting nets over the strawberry plants keeps birds away. In summer, Granny waters, and the two watch and wait until the fruit is ripe. The end of summer means it’s time for apples and pears; they bite into the fruit, bake some of it into pies, and preserve the rest as jam. This concise U.K. import will satisfy young listeners or early readers curious about where their food comes from; it’s also a lovely example of intergenerational bonding. Backmatter includes a matching activity, further information (with a reminder that eating local fruit in season is better for the planet), and a page that lists four kinds of fruit (“berries,” “stone fruit,” “pome fruit,” and “dry fruit”), with examples. Finally, the book has a recipe for fruit salad—enough for the whole family. Granny and the child are brown-skinned.

Gentle encouragement for the youngest of gardeners.