Sweet book! Love the illustrations, and of course who doesn’t 💗 the Gaines family? Offers a novice look at gardening.
Have purchased for our church library.

This is a sweet little picture book about a family that falls in love with growing plants and eventually grows a successful garden, after some missteps.

The artwork is my favorite part of the book. The illustrations are lovely. The text is a little long to hold the attention of some children, and a little unnecessarily wordy. It's lacking in the really good story telling of great children's authors. The author is a famous reality TV personality, and I'm guessing the book deal was because of that following, though it is still a sweet story.

This would be a good bedtime story when you want it to run on a little ways and make kids sleepy or when it's nice to cuddle up and take some time to get through a book. It also has a nice lesson about persevering and offers some little gardening lessons (like if everybody waters a plant every day you'll accidentally kill it).

My rating system:
1 = disliked it
2 = it was okay
3 = liked it
4 = really liked it
5 = love it, plan to purchase or would buy it again if it was lost

I read a temporary digital ARC of the book for the purpose of review.

I love Joanna & Chip Gaines. I’ve watched every episode of Fixer Upper so many times it’s embarrassing to admit the actual number. I own many, many, many things from their Target line, Hearth & Hand. I, also, own all of their books.

But.

Even I, Fixer Upper Superfan, have been feeling a little hesitant about all of the new ventures the Gaines family keeps finding themselves in. So, honestly, I came to this book as a bit of a skeptic. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised.

First off, the illustrations are ADORABLE. I would love to see Julianna’s illustrations in as many books as possible! And, I loved that the story itself was told from the perspective of the kids. While cute and fun to look at, in general, ‘Gardeners’ was also an excellent resource on how one goes about starting a garden with the reader’s own mom or dad.

All in all, I would highly recommend this book – especially if your child is showing any interest in doing a little bit of gardening or even just about how things grow. Otherwise, the book may not be able to keep their attention. Though, for me, it’s worth the money for the illustrations alone.

Thank You to Thomas Nelson Publishing and NetGalley for this digital copy to read and review!

Lovely book. I didn't expect to like it so much. I love how it show failures and perseverance in growing their garden. I also enjoyed the connection to their growing family. Kids will connect with both.

HEAD TO THE GARDEN AND GROW, WITH YOUR KIDS
3 Amazing Picture Books That Delight and Educate
It is springtime and it is time to think about getting your kids outside. One of our favorite kid activities each year is to garden together. Some years we grow sunflower playhouses, some years we plant a salad garden, and some years it is just flowers and berries. But no matter what, getting out with your kids into the dirt can be so wonderful.

This delightful picture book tells the story of one family who begins their gardening adventure with a small, wilted fern, and end up with a big, beautiful garden in their yard. Everyone helps, from little to big, as they plan and purchase and plant.

The illustrations are so sweet and gentle that every single member of your family, no matter how old, will love to watch as you read this picture book aloud. And when the book is done? Well, then your kids will know how to plan the garden plots and watch for earthworm ‘secret agents’. Together you can get out into your yard and grow!

The information in this sweet book has given me faith that I might be able to raise a plant from seed.
I hope to share this book with littles who will also try their best at gardening.
The best part of this book (to me) is the fact that they did a little research and learned something because of their desire to do more.
We are blessed that they are to be able spend time outside and share their findings with others.

Imagine for a minute what it would be like growing up in the Gaines household. Your parents do great work with their hands, whether it is remodeling a home or working the ground. As a child, you are brought up surrounded by hard work, done by people with a passion for what they do. Written by kids, and Jo, for kids, We Are the Gardeners weaves a story, life lessons, and growing up as a Gaines child all into one.

The book opens with the Gaines children sharing about the first fern their dad bought their mom, which is how their first garden began. It was fun as an adult reading the book, getting the childlike perspective of not just a story, but the story of their parents.

One of my favorite parts of this book is the actual story. In addition to sharing about their first garden, they share about hard work and sticking with something, even when things don't go as planned. I think these lessons are important to teach children and great reminders for adults as well.

I always believe that illustrations can make or break a children's book and I found the illustrations in this book to help bring the story to life even more. As I finished reading this book I was ready to go outside and plant a garden. This book reminded me not only of the lessons that can be learned from the hard work of gardening but the excitement and fun gardening can be.

Jo and the kids did a great job weaving together an educational, yet engaging story that was fun for a fan to read, yet relatable to children at the same time. I can't wait to see what children's title they come up with next!

A very interesting and informative book that young readers would particularly be attracted to due to the vibrant colors and solid information.

The Gaines family shares their trials and errors in starting a family gardening. A great message about perseverance and the rewards or gardening. The illustrations were just as beautiful as the message.

This book was everything that I expected. Joanna and family has done it again!!! This book is absolutely adorable! The story is well written, with great values and lessons to live by. The illustrations are whimsical, lovely and yes, shiplap included.
This book will be on my gifts to give list!! It will be enjoyed by both little and big hands.

This is a fantastic book that shows the beauty of a garden but also the failures that lead to that beautiful garden. It is great to use during Spring to teach growth mindset and the hardships that occur leading up to success.

We are the Gardeners is a great story of kids starting a garden and making it grow with their family. I really liked the colourful illustrations and the easy-to-read text from the story. The only thing I did not really like is how some bugs are treated as "bad" and some plants as "weeds". We are trying nowadays to explain there is not good or bad plant but only diversity and every organism has its role to play in nature and therefore in the garden.

We Are The Gardeners by Joanna Gaines & Kids

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

______________________________________________________________________________

Story Notes

Design and home makeover expert Joanna Gaines presents a wonderful story about the importance of not giving up in the face of failure.

Joanna and Chip Gaines have become household names all over the US and the world. From their beautiful home makeovers to their creative companies to their fun Silo store, their love of making the world more welcoming and lovely spills over into the lives of those around them. Joanna has also ventured into the world of writing with this well written and well developed story about never giving up. Told from the perspective of her children, Ms. Gaines tells the real-life story of how they became a gardening family. From their first fern to the large gardens they now care for, there were challenges and set backs that gave the children a choice: do we give up or do we try again to make it better? I loved the quote from Chip Gaines ” Every hard thing we choose to do makes us braver for the next time.” Truly this is a lesson that many of us need to learn and remember. Failure does not mean the end but a chance to start over with another idea – think Thomas Edison and the light bulb. I loved the cute story, especially that it included some complicated words that were explained to help expand a child’s vocabulary. Often authors stick with simple words, forgetting that a child can learn harder words if they are explained. I’m glad to see that Ms. Gaines included the “tough” words to inspire children to learn more than the story itself. The illustrations of this book by Julianna Swaney must be mentioned as they were so very beautiful. The colors used were bright but soothing and will certainly make children want to re-read this book often. And while most were very realistic, there were some that were drawn overly large to prove a point – this was a very clever idea. I will certainly be recommending and sharing this book with others as it is truly delightful to read. I will also be adding a physical copy of this book to my collection very soon. Well done, Joanna and Julianna!

I received this E-book free of charge from Tommy Nelson/Thomas Nelson Children via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. I will receive no fiscal compensation for this review and the opinions expressed herein are entirely my own.

The bright, inviting illustrations and the clearly written text detail how a well-known family begins a garden and overcomes some problems along the way. A friendly book with a good message.

As a teacher I couldn't wait to add this book to my classroom library. In today's society I feel that kids don't play outside enough and I truly believe in the importance of play and getting children to spend time outdoors. This book is adorable. The illustrations are sweet and the lessons of the book pertain to all children. This book will be read over and over in class especially during the spring season and during our gardening unit!

This is such a sweet book and I am a big fan of the Gaines family! I read this with my children and will be reading it for years to come :) Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

This adorable children's book will be a favorite for children and adults. The illustrations are colorfully captivating and the details of each page are fun to pour over to find all the treasures placed on each page. I was happily surprised that this wasn't a typical children's book with a couple words here and there on each page. The writing is dense and has deeper meaning. And although the gardening aspect of the book isn't a how to this books teaches about perseverance and never giving up no matter the set backs. I was so excited to be able to receive this book through NetGalley when I realized that Joanna had added to her list of talents. Her tone and words and I could hear her voice as I read. My kids will love this book for years to come.

We are the Gardeners is a perfect children’s book for Spring. It is written by Joanna Gaines and illustrated by Juliana Swaney. This book is about four siblings who learn to become gardeners. They start with taking care of a fern and graduate to planning and developing a full-scale garden. They face obstacles and learn valuable lessons along the way.

We are the Gardeners is a perfect book for kids who are just learning to read and in whom you want to spark a curiosity for gardening. The pictures in the book are beautiful, with mild colors and a lot of detail. I give this book a 5 out of 5 rating. We are the Gardeners is a must read for this Spring.

Thank you to Netgalley and Owlkids Books for the ARC.

While this book will be received well because it has Joanna Gaines' name on it... it 100% deserves it for the beauty within the pages. The artwork is gorgeous and page by page you find yourself living inside the story. It has a beautiful message about values, compassion and perserverance. I was thrilled to receive an ARC - thank you NetGalley, the publisher and Gaines family. I have additionally purchased one for my children as they are aspiring gardeners and I feel its one we enjoy time and time again.

Thank you NetGalley for my ARC. Such a cute story! I loved the illustrations and the book teaches such a good lesson.