The Imaginary Garden

When Theo's Poppa leaves behind his house, in order to live in an apartment building, the young girl, missing the time they spent together in his old garden, proposes that they create an 'imaginary' garden. And so a grandfather-granddaughter art project begins, as the two set out to paint a new and beautiful garden, on a massive blank canvas that Poppa sets up on his balcony. It falls to Theo to continue the work, when Poppa goes away on a trip, and despite her trepidation about going on alone, it turns out that she knows just what to do...

I enjoyed The Imaginary Garden, both as a depiction of a loving relationship between grandparent and grandchild, and as a tribute to the power and importance of artistic activity, in the life of both show more children and adults. Irene Luxbacher's pen, ink and collage artwork captures the excitement of Theo and Poppa's project, as fairly blank apartment-buildings vistas, with plenty of white space on the page, give way to the imaginary garden's gorgeously colorful landscape. Recommended to anyone looking for engaging stories featuring grandparents and their grandchildren, as well as to those interested in children's books featuring artistic activity. show less

I have mixed feelings about this book. While I was reading it, I genuinely loved the book. The pictures were amazing, the characters were well developed, and the plot was very engaging. Even though there were not a lot of words about each character, the pictures told the story and each picture in this book gave a lot of details about Theo’s life. For example, in one picture there are pictures of Theo and her family hanging up on the walls in their house. These pictures give you insights on the rest of her family, and different activities Theo likes to do. And even though it is not mentioned in words, you can see they are a large, loving family. I did not have an issue with the book until it got to the end, and was ended liked this, show more “Theo could hardly wait until Poppa returned from his holiday.” I felt like I was ripped off. I have so many questions. Where did her Poppa go? Did he like the painting when he returned? Did Poppa add to the painting? I think that there could have been at least five more pages. The central message of this book is that sometimes you have to create your own happiness. Theo and his Poppa loved having a garden but since they moved to their apartment, there was no place to put it. Theo and his Poppa were very creative and decided to make an imaginary garden, on a canvas. show less

Way to go Poppa for completely engaging, encouraging, and supporting Theo's imagination and desire to create. They might not have the resources to make a garden like Theo wanted, but putting their ideas together, they came up with something just as beautiful! While painting their garden Poppa still found many teaching moments where he passed on his knowledge to Theo. I love when learning comes naturally during fun times like painting! He teaches her specific strategies for painting, but he also teaches her about the garden they are "planting." I was seriously so impressed at his ability to make this moment for Theo completely authentic, and in the end the garden is better than she originally planned! Art works like that a lot of the show more times. This book offers strong extension activities- a school "imaginary garden" and maybe even a day when you invite a grandfriend to school to help add to the garden. show less

Summary: Theo loved her Poppa's garden at his old house, but Poppa had to move away to the city. When Theo went to visit him at his new apartment she realized that there was no garden at all. She then asked Poppa if they could have an imaginary garden and Poppa was thrilled. They spent the next few weeks painting new flowers over old flowers. Poppa had to go away for a few weeks and left Theo in charge of the garden. At the end of the story Theo could not wait for Poppa to come home to see what she had added.

Review: This is such a cute book for young children! The central message that Larsen gives to his readers is that if you have an imagination then anything is possible. In the book it shows that Poppa moved into a gloomy apartment show more building in a gloomy city. Theo was so disappointed until she and Poppa decided to create their own garden, so Poppa bought a huge easel and paints. Just like in a real garden they painted the sky and dirt and then just like in a real garden, when old flowers wilted away and new ones take over, Theo and Poppa painted and repainted flowers. If that does not show a young child imagination, then I do not know what does! Children can catch this message and hold onto it because they are so full of ideas and, frankly, most children in my opinion are more imaginative than adults. show less

This was a wonderful book because of the memories it brought back gardening with my grandparents. I like how poppa taught both art and planting which young students can also learn from.

A super cute story about a grandpa and granddaughter who love to garden. The grandpa has an awesome garden, but then he moves into an apartment and has no room for a garden. The grandpa and granddaughter decide to make an imaginary garden. Each week they paint one new garden thing on a huge canvas on the grandpa's balcony. Really cute, great combination of a lot of things to make a very sweet story.

Poppa & Theo (Theodora) spend many hours in their garden, but when Poppa moves to an apartment there is nor room on the balcony for a garden. Poppa buys a large canvas and together he & Theo plan out and paint a garden to rival that of the one they shared before the move. When Poppa goes out of town on vacation it is up to Theo to tend the garden....

This is a lovely book and incorporates the use of colors and flower names as a learning tool.