The Gardener

The Gardener  is a children’s book set in the 1930’s. A young girl Lydia Grace writes letters to her Uncle Jim in the city. She talks about the struggles that her family is having and that she is going to stay with her uncle in the city to help out. She informs her uncle that she is shy, knows a lot about gardening, knows little about baking, but is excited to learn. Once she moves to the city, she begins writing often to her family back home. Over the next year, Lydia Grace continues to garden and help her Uncle Jim in the bakery and before she knows it, the bakery is full of customers again. Uncle Jim doesn’t smile often, but one day Lydia Grace knows that he will. One day in July, Uncle Jim closes the bakery early and informs Lydia that she gets to go home and be with her family again.

Stewart, S., Small, D., & Farrar, S. (1997). The gardener. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.