Member Reviews

"We Are the Gardeners" by Joanna Gaines and her kids tells the story of their family's gardening journey, teaching lessons about patience, hard work, and nature.
Very cute and very charming. There were some passages that could have done without. For a children’s book those parts didn’t hold my attention very well. The illustration is BEAUTIFUL. I appreciated that the book wasn’t all praise and success. I DO NOT have a green thumb, and was glad to see that it, in fact, is NOT as simple as experts make it out to be, haha.

Was this review helpful?

A sweet story about a family (a pretty famous family) and their garden. Loved the illustrations. I think this will inspire young readers to want to plant their own garden. I purchased this book for my elementary school library.

Was this review helpful?

This is as story of growing a garden. It is a really cute tale of how this family spends time together cultivating a garden and life with each other as they grow flowers and produce at home. It discusses some of the struggles along side the benefits of a garden at home. This is a great read for spring. The picture are so cute.

Perhaps this would be a good time to start a garden yourself as a family. Take time to learn how to care for your plants properly and then watch them grow. If you don’t have much room, there are container gardens you could try to get you started.
Take a trip to your local botanical gardens or farms if you don’t have the space or time to dedicate to your own. Visit a pick your own farm.
Don’t forget to do the crafts like drawing, painting, building with paper or clay some flowers.
Make a simple flower bracelet from pipe cleaners with your little ones.
There are endless possibilities to get you into the spring and gardening mood but most of all have fun and enjoy it with your family like they do in the book.

Was this review helpful?

#wearethegardeners was given to me in exchange for an honest review on #netgalley. I love the Gaines' family. When I saw there was a book I had to sign up for it. This is a cute introduction for families wanting to get into gardening and get their children interested. The illustrations are sweet and the insight into the family was enjoyable.

Was this review helpful?

Loved this book. My favorite part were the images. Anything by Joanna Gaines is probably going to be wonderful. The wording was simple and the message was clear. I loved the illustrations.

Was this review helpful?

Cute book. I mean who does love Joanna Gaines. Learning gardening by one of the best.
Get this book for your kids and your grandkids. Or just get it for yourself.

Was this review helpful?

I think this was a wonderfully written children's book about a family that came together to create a garden. It started off with a failure and then that failure bloomed into a lesson about never giving up. I love that through this book we teach children about gardening which is a passion that not many people stop and do. This book gives wonder to being outside and helping to create. I would recommend this book to almost anyone.

Was this review helpful?

“A garden is hard work, but so is most of the good, important stuff in life.”

“We are the Gardeners,” written by Joanna Gaines and her children and illustrated by Julianna Swaney, is a beautiful story that not only teaches about how to garden, but it instills the importance of hard work.

Through its gorgeous illustrations, Gaines’ lovely tale helps the reader realize the importance of learning about something to get better at it and the need of a good foundation. It reminds us not to let the weeds of life take over.

“We are the Gardeners” is a story of hope, dreaming and planning.

Swaney’s illustrations are a pure delight to the eye. Full of lovely, yet soft colors, they reflect Gaines’ own family throughout the process of gardening. The illustrations at the end of the book, which feature full blown gardens, are a masterpiece.

Any age will love this book. It’s a true joy to read.

Five stars out of five.

Tommy Nelson, an imprint of Thomas Nelson, provided this complimentary copy through NetGalley for my honest, unbiased review.

Was this review helpful?

Joanna Gaines never ceases to amaze me with her books. This one is beautiful, as always, and you will enjoy reading it with your children (or just enjoy it yourself!) Highly recommend!

Was this review helpful?

How Adorable! We Are The Gardeners by JoAnna Gaines is a gem. It is teaching in a fun way. This book brings children thoughts about the basics of gardening, but more than that, this book teaches values.
It is about creativity, being compassionate, and building of a work ethic.
This book puts art and life together wonderfully as it illustrates to children that hard work brings hope and of course perseverance.
It is a very beautifully illustrated book. I highly recommend this book to be read to little ones and can be self-read up to a 12/13-year-old target audience.

Was this review helpful?

I would like to call it, a cute gardening guide for the young ones. It is not a guide though because it is more of like a story while at the same time giving a little basic information about gardening. Which I think would make the kids to want to do a gardening. The illustration is adorable. However, I feel like something is missing. Maybe I am expecting more? :)

Was this review helpful?

The writing is very sweet and quite twee and the illustrations are pretty, however I think it would be more suitable for older children. It's hard to pinpoint what audience this would fit exactly, and I wonder if the picture book format was the best choice. I could see this serving its audience better as a juvenile graphic novel, perhaps. That being said, as an adult I enjoyed the quick read and the flowery visuals. A good message about perseverance through failure, though the factual asides can sometimes detract from the syrupy flow of words.

Was this review helpful?

This book was cute, beautiful, and inspiring! The illustrations made it feel so Spring-y and bright. I love how along with teaching about plants, bugs, and gardening in general, it also gives a great lesson on perseverance. However, I did think it was a bit plain, it felt a bit to focused on teaching about gardening or about what the family likes to do and so it didn't have much emotion to it. It was great to see the kids doing a lot of the work in the book such as researching what plants need and being a part of the garden-planning process; I think it would be really inspiring to kids and make them want a garden of their own. Even I now feel like I want to start gardening!

Was this review helpful?

This is a lovely book about growing a garden with those you love.  The illustrations are sweet, gently colorful and evocative.  The story is a simple one that is nicely told.  A family learns to appreciate growing things.  They start with a fern plant and, by the end of the book, have a gorgeous outdoor garden.


The author shows that, as is often true, things go well at times and not so well at others.  That first fern plant dies, a victim of over watering.  Aphids invade.  Earthworms help. Readers will learn that persistence, teamwork and a willingness to fail are important qualities for gardeners.


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review. As we move into spring and summer, this charming book will encourage gardening.

Was this review helpful?

A lovely children's book with beautiful illustrations that will appeal to little kids. I loved that through the act of gardening, the author has managed to incorporate the really important life lessons of resilience, perseverance and the value of hard work.

Was this review helpful?

Very cute book with great illustrations! We are the Gardeners is about taking care of what's been entrusted to you. It covers much more than just how to start and tend a garden, It also talks about how to tend to the relationships that are important to you. This is a great children's book to add to any collection. Both my daughters ages 4 and 7 loved it! We have already added the hardcover version to our home library!

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book for my honest opinion!

Was this review helpful?

This is a wonderful children's book with an important message about hard work, taking care of things, and watching the hard work pay off as a garden grows. The illustrations are fantastic and do a great job of bringing the story to life.

Was this review helpful?

Sweet and beautifully illustrated with watercolor paintaing, this small book is clever, funny and uplifting.
Using a limited number of pages, it manages to nudge children toward gardening, state the hassles of keeping your plants alive, AND teach the children the useful life lesson of trying again. It also captures the dreamy aspirations of a wannabe gardener family and I could totally relate.
This is an excellent choice for when you want to snuggle with your children and daydream together. I would consider buying the paperback version because it's a beautiful piece of work that merits to be appreciated in a printed form.

Was this review helpful?

Beautiful illustrations make this a comforting read for younger elementary students or older toddlers with a parent. Full of information on gardening and how it brings a family together across generations.

Was this review helpful?

Loved reading this precious book with my two young children. The illustrations were beautiful and the story was endearing!

Was this review helpful?