Lydia Grace Finch brings a suitcase full of seeds to the big gray city, where she goes to stay with her Uncle Jim, a cantankerous baker. There she initiates a gradual transformation, bit by bit brightening the shop and bringing smiles to customers’ faces with the flowers she grows. But it is in a secret place that Lydia Grace works on her masterpiece — an ambitious rooftop garden — which she hopes will make even Uncle Jim smile. Sarah Stewart introduces readers to an engaging and determined young heroine, whose story is told through letters written home, while David Small’s illustrations beautifully evoke the Depression-era setting.
This heart warming spring book can be used in speech therapy to address social/emotional issues like surviving in a time of darkness, helping others and seeing the bright things in life. It is also great for character analysis and for targeting inferencing as well as for describing! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using The Gardener in speech therapy below:
