IN THE GARDEN

George sends two young children into a garden for her latest entry in the beautifully illustrated Who’s Been Here? series. As Christina and Jeremy gather veggies for dinner, they point out chewed leaves, gaps in the rows and other signs that they haven’t been the garden’s only visitors. The author reveals the identity of those early diners—a chipmunk, a tomato hornworm, a crow and others—with close-up, finely detailed portraits on alternating wordless spreads. Meanwhile, other small animals, from a garter snake to a bumblebee, put in cameos amid glimpses of gracefully ruffled flowers and nets of greenery. As before, George offers surer depictions of flora and of fauna than of people, and here her closing notes make each highlighted creature seem more like an unwelcome invader than part of the natural setting—still, children working on sharpening their powers of observation won’t want to miss this outing. (Picture book. 6-8)