A Ruckus in the Garden tells the story of Pettson, a farmer and his quirky cat, Findus. On a beautiful spring morning, Pettson decides to plant vegetables and seed potatoes in his garden. Findus has a different idea; he wants to plant meatballs. And so Pettson plants vegetables while Findus plants his meatballs.
But Pettson forgot to shut the henhouse and now the hens are wandering around the garden, digging up the seeds and meatballs they planted. The story is fun and lighthearted and the illustrations accompanying the story are beautiful and well rendered. This book will resonate well with young readers and adults looking for a good laugh.

Thank you to Sven Nordqvis, NorthSouth Books, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

NorthSouth Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of A Ruckus in the Garden: The Adventures of Pettson and Findus. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Old Man Pettson was looking at his vegetable patch one day and decided it was time to plant seed potatoes and other vegetables. Findus, his cat, had a different idea. He planted a meatball and was determined to get it to grow. Too bad the chickens had another plan! Once the ruckus in the garden started, it was hard to get it to stop.

A Ruckus in the Garden: The Adventures of Pettson and Findus is a very charming book, filled with great illustrations and a wonderful story. I really like the message regarding perseverance, in that it is sometimes very difficult to do your best when someone else comes along and messes it up. Older readers will enjoy reading the story for themselves, while younger children will marvel in the story about a cat wanting to plant a meatball in the garden and all of the ruckus that ensues. Although the book ended a little too abruptly, I would definitely recommend A Ruckus in the Garden to children from the very young to school age.

I like gardens. And I like children's books. So what is there not to like about Sven Nordqvist's A Ruckus in the Garden? It's a charming picture book with a fun story and another thing I really like: a cat. 

Farmer Pettson is trying to plant his garden. He plants seeds for carrots and onions, peas and beans, and he plants seed potatoes. Findus the cat isn't very interested in any of that, so he tries to plant a meatball instead, to see if it will grow him more meatballs. But then the chickens come and dig up the garden, trying to find worms. 

Pettson and Findus decide to replant. But again, the garden gets dug up. This time it's the neighbor's pig who does the damage. 

So Pettson and Findus build a fence around the garden and replant. But before they go to bed, Pettson asks the cat if he'd like to stand guard over the garden. Findus isn't very excited about that idea, but the farmer comes up with a plan where Findus can watch from the tree house. They set up an alarm so that Findus can wake the farmer if there is any trouble. and the cat is set to keep watch over the garden all night long. But the night is dark, and cats get sleepy. 

And then the neighbor's cows can get in. It takes a clever cat to get the cows back to their own field, so that Pettson and Findus can fix the garden once again. 

A Ruckus in the Garden is an adorable and fun read for kids. With themes of perseverance in the face of challenges and using clever ideas to solve problems, it teaches kids not to give up, but instead to come up with new ways of looking at their problems to make solutions easier. And there's a cat. What more could you ask for?



Galleys for A Ruckus in the Garden were provided by North South Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Old man Pettson and his cat Findus have a busy day planting their garden with vegetable seeds, seed potatoes ...and a meatball for silly Findus. Soon the hens come scratching and Pettson has to put them in their henhouse with a little help from his clever cat.
It doesn't take long to find the garden has been trampled once again! Follow Pettson and Findus as they try to keep the neighbor's animals out of their garden so they can look forward to vegetables, potatoes, and maybe a meatball or two!
Clever and silly, children will enjoy The Ruckus in the Garden for the funny story and the nice illustrations.

I simply adore Sven Nordquist's books. The quirky stories and amazing, humorous, and detailed illustrations are just the best in my opinion.

Pettson and Findus star again in a classic tale that will have kids laughing. This time they decide to plant a lovely spring garden. Pettson plants seed potatoes so his crop will yield five to ten new potatoes each come harvest time, carrots, onions, peas and beans. All lovely vegetables for sure, but his cat Findus is determined to plant a meatball, which he eagerly does. He runs over ever few minutes to see if it is growing... oh my, he discovers that meatballs take forever to sprout.

Then a series of disasters strike the precious newly planted garden! At first hens descend upon the garden patch and totally devaste it. Oh noooooo!! Time to replant. Next Pettson finds out that a herd of pigs have escaped from his neighbour Gustavsson's farm, and they trample and eat everything in sight too. Oh dear... well he gives it one last try.

He sets brave Fendus up in his treehouse as a midnight watchman. His cat will be able to keep a watchful eye out and protect their garden domain. Low and behold disaster strikes once again. Can this be the last straw for these poor victimized gardeners? Has all this mayhem and devastation been too much and will they finally give up their dream?

The illustrations are truly amazing. Full of action, detail, and emotion they take the text to a whole new level. They almost come across as animated pulling the reader into the action on each page.

This fantastic quirky tale will delight kids of all ages (adults too)! I highly, highly recommend this book and the complete series!

The delightful illustrations with lots of fun features make this a lovely book for children. I enjoyed all the quirky humorous bits, like the staring flowers with one eye and the man tying the rope to his toe. The text was perhaps unnecessarily long and the ending was a bit flat but my children (9, 7 and 5) listening to this.

'A Ruckus in the Garden' follows the high jinks of Pettson ad his mischievous cat, Findus. Pettson wants to plant some seeds in the garden, for potatoes, but Findus has other ideas and wants to plant a meatball. Not only that, but plenty of animals get in the way of Pettson's gardening, and mayhem ensues. The illustrations are lovely and very artfully done, and the story itself is fun and full of mischief. This book would be ideal for young readers who are reading independently.

A delightful story for children! The illustrations complement the story well and make for a fun, lighthearted story to break up a farming or gardening lesson.

Fendus is totally adorable in those green overalls! I want to grow meatballs too! This wonky story is totally geared towards making kids laugh and I want to buy the entire series! of all the books I have read today, this one is by far the cutest and most memorable! I want to go on more adventures with Fendus and Pettson to see what shenanigans will ensue! The chickens were also very funny and I felt sorry that Pettson had to replant his garden so many times!
This book series is sure to be a hit with young readers and spark their curiosity! FANTASTIC STORYLINE!

Silly little tale Kindergarten to grade schoolers will enjoy! Illustrations were fun!
Netgalley gave me an advance Kindle copy in exchange for a fair review.

I have been a longtime fan of Pettersson/Pettson and his cat Findus and so happy to see them becoming available in English, too. The stories are endearing and funny and the art is amazing. I would gift this to any child I know without a second thought.

Another winner in "The Adventures of Pettson and Findus" series. Delightful, whimsical, colorful and humorous illustrations accompany this tale of Farmer Pettson and his cat. The duo team up to protect their newly-planted vegetable garden. (Findus insists on planting a meatball, going to great--but unsuccessful--lengths to protect it.)

However, they awaken on subsequent mornings to find that first, their chickens, next a neighboring pig, and finally, six escaped cows have ruined their plantings. Ultimately, fences are mended and we trust Pettson's garden will grow without hindrances. Five stars.

A classical children story, told with a lot of humour and a little bit of animal mystery. Although it might be an unusual topic, especially for the nowadays kids used with a different kind of approach of children books, with an emphasis on technique and hi tech and gadgets, it succeeds to catch the interest of the young reader. You can learn a lot of things about agriculture and country life, which is a welcomed break from the usual youngsters' screen staring.

I  recieved a free digital copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

I think the illustrations are absolutely adorable! (A hen tea party? ❤❤) I love that the cat Findus is wearing a green striped overalls and a beanie. (And he wants to plant meatballs instead of potato's! 😂) Findus reminds me of my cat Amos. 😂

Farmer Pettson and Findus plant a beautiful garden with carrots, potato's and a meatball. Poor guys. Every time they try to plant the garden, something happens to destroy all their hard work.

Overall this was a very cute story!

An adorably quirky tale of a farmer, his cat friend, unruly chickens and more. Findus the cat tries to grow meatballs while Pettson plants more conventional seeds, only to have their hard work undone by hungry, inquisitive animals.

Though a bit wordy for a picture book, the story is funny and surprising. I would recommend this for young readers.