All That Grows

A boy goes on neighborhood walks with his older sister, and she teaches him about the plants they pass. Magnolias, she says, smell like lemon cake. Some creeping weeds were once planted on purpose as decoration. Dandelion greens can even be eaten with spaghetti.

The boy starts to wonder what actually makes a plant a flower, a vegetable, or a weed, how his sister can tell the difference, and how she came to know so much. The more he learns, the more he realizes there is to learn, and his head spins at how big the world is. In the end he decides to let his own knowledge grow in its own time, much like the plants he has chosen to tend in the garden.

This picture book is by Jack Wong, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner. It is told through dialogue and illustrations, and its gentle theme is patience and letting knowledge develop at its own pace.