This is a wonderful book about making beautiful spaces in your neighborhood. I like how the illustrations really bring the story to life.

Sweet, a nice message and good illustrations.

With the unintentional creation of a garden, two young boys not only bring some beauty to the courtyard of an apartment complex, but help to bring people of the complex a little closer together.
I liked the use of colour in the story, and how the pages of the story become more colourful as main character Vincent and his new friend Toma become friends, and the garden begins growing.

cute, felt too brief

Things aren’t always what they seem.

Vincent, is stuck in the city, so he makes friends with Toma, and they throw “dirt balls” that someone gave his aunt, into a vacant lot.

The dirt balls, are seed bomb, and they grow, and the boys learn the joy of having and keeping up with a garden, with help of the neighborhood, and the grumpy neighbor.





Cute story of a good use of a summer.

Pictures are colorful and fun, and I like how the grumpy neighbor goes to being a helpful neighbor.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

This is a wonderful book about making beautiful spaces in your neighborhood. I like how the illustrations really bring the story to life.

A tad text-heavy, so better as a read aloud for upper elementary. Lovely idea that may spark activism.

3,5/5. Again not really sure where it was going, but a cute story about friendship and... something else. I really love the illustration style that has something original in it!

Vincent is staying with his aunt Mimi for the summer. She lives in an urban neighborhood with lots of concrete. Vincent is set for a dull summer where one of the most interesting things is the box of dirt balls that Mimi has from a previous boyfriend. But then Vincent meets Toma, a boy from the neighborhood. The two of them spend time together playing and take the dirt balls and toss them into the empty lot across the road. Soon not only is their friendship blossoming but the empty lot is being transformed by the dirt balls they tossed, dirt balls full of seeds. As the community joins together to care for the new garden, Vincent has to head home, but he will return next year to a neighborhood transformed by nature.

Larsen manages to show an urban neighborhood that is disconnected but still active before the garden appears. There are ice cream trucks, nosy neighbors, and balconies that connect people. Yet it is still a concrete space that needs something. It needs a garden! Told in a gentle tone and at a pace that allows space for the book to grow, this picture book is about transformation and community.

Villeneuve’s illustrations are done in quiet grays, pinks and blues that are almost hazy on the page. They transform along with the garden into vibrant colors of green that anchor the community visually and firmly.

A lovely picture book about the power of nature to create community. Appropriate for ages 3-5.