Peggy Thomas

Out-of-doors season has arrived and one of the joys of the warm weather days is planting a garden - vegetables, fruits, or flowers. And they all require soil. And they all require digging.

It's what is in the soil plus sun and rain that makes the garden and all it's loveliness grow. In the delightfully entertaining and educational book, The Soil in Jackie's Garden, young Jackie learns all about how she can enrich the soil and what it takes to get the soil to be productive - including critters that wiggle and squirm down deep in the dark moist dirt.

This charming book displays vertically (a bit different from regular printings) and that just seems to help visualize how it takes going deep down for soil to be enriched and effective. Young readers will be enticed to get a shovel, make a compost pile, dig a garden, find an earth worm, and be in absolute awe when they see their seeds sprout and seedlings grow to fruition.

Feeding Minds Press accurately presents factual knowledge in a format that children can understand. Children learn that there is more than a visit to the grocery store to putting a meal on the table. It takes soil. It takes digging. It takes attention to our environment.

I highly recommend this book for families and libraries.

I received a complimentary copy to facilitate a review. Opinions are mine, alone and are freely given.… (more)

It's a commonly known fact that Henry Ford invented the Model T, an affordable automobile that made transportation by car more readily available. However, it's probably less well known that Ford was interested in sustainability and farming in addition to his tinkering with machinery. And he was obsessed with one thing in particular -- soybeans. So much so that his favorite snack was a soybean biscuit, his suits were made of soy thread, and the dinner he served in the Ford Exhibit at the World's Fair in Chicago contained soy in every item presented, including beverages and desserts. TIME Magazine even declared him "a bean's best friend" in 1936.

This picture book biography focuses on Ford's efforts to build a soybean car rather than the more known parts of his history. I know absolutely nothing about this facet of Ford and was therefore enthralled by this book. The text is simple and straightforward but completely informative. Occasional direct quotes from Ford are peppered throughout the story. The illustrations are bright and lively; for some reason, the pages are infused with a jaunty yellow, which I loved since yellow is one of my favorite colors. Extensive back matter includes a timeline, recipes, black-and-white archival photographs, a bibliography, etc.… (more)