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Saving Kate's Flowers    by Cindy Sommer & Laurie Allen Klein Amazon.com order for
Saving Kate's Flowers
by Cindy Sommer
Order:  USA  Can
Arbordale, 2016 (2016)
Hardcover, Softcover, e-Book
* *   Reviewed by Lyn Seippel

Kate and her mother are working in the garden. Winter is coming and Kate is sad that the flowers will die in the cold. She suggests they take them inside for the winter. Her mother agrees that they can transplant a few of the plants into pots to keep inside for the winter. While she is busy on a phone call, Kate repots more than a few. When she runs out of pots, she uses cups and bowls from the pantry.

They look beautiful, but when Dad comes home, he has an allergic reaction to the garden which has now moved into the house. What does Kate do? She ties ribbons on the pots and shares with her neighbors.

Katie and her family are bunnies, with other forest creatures as neighbors. Laurie Allen Klein does a lovely job with illustrations of bats, moles, squirrels and others.

The Creative Mind section at the end of the book gives the Life Cycle of Plants and shows how Kate potted her flowers. The Arbordale Publishing website offers more activities including interactive quizzes.

2nd Review by Jessica Maguire:

Kate loves helping Mom in the garden. With winter fast approaching there is plenty of work for them to do. But Kate does not want the pretty flowers to wither in the harsh winter frost. What is she do? Pot the flowers and shelter them until spring! Mom shows Kate, and you too, how to pot plants for overwintering.

Sweet, little Kate gets carried away, though, and wants to pot all of the flowers in her garden. Her bedroom soon becomes a garden nursery! Then ... ACHOO! Dad comes home, and the plants set off his allergies. The plants must go, but where? Mom helps Kate come up with a solution.

This informative, adorably enchanting story is a fun read, and also serves as a gardening guide for your budding gardener. Boy and girls, four to eight years old, will enjoy their introduction to gardening. Join this darling bunny family as they teach readers all about plants, problem solving, and sharing. Wonderfully detailed, softly colored, drawings beautifully illustrate the story and flower guides.

As an avid gardener myself, I am quite impressed with the wealth of knowledge and detail contained within the pages of this book. Kate's garden is full of a wide variety of plants, from classic geraniums to exotic New Guinea impatiens. The flowers, right down to the marigold seeds, are accurately depicted by artist Laurie Allen Klein.

Young readers will find informative, fun exercises in the activity section included at the end of the story. They will learn about plant parts, the life cycle of plants, and how to pot their own flowers. Short quizzes and matching games will reinforce their newly acquired gardening know how.

Kate would love for you to join her and 'save a flower from the winter', and summer is the perfect time to nurture your plants in preparation for the upcoming seasons.

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