In Get Off My Lawn!, a group of neighbor kids destroy their older neighbor's yard, picking and trampling flowers and causing havoc and his hard work and prized garden. In return, the old man yells at the kids to get off his lawn. Now, barring that this is a story with needed conflict so one wouldn't expect the parents to step in and prevent the kids from destroying someone else's property to begin with, this seems to be lacking. It's a cautionary tale with no discussion of what to do instead. The kids end up painting pictures of flowers and saying "I'm sorry." The parents don't step in to help model for their kids taking responsibility. The families don't come together to help replace all of the destroyed garden.

My young co-reviewers told me they hated the book and asked never to read it again.

I found this on Netgalley and thought it looked hilarious. Marketed for children, this story is short and simplistic. The underlying message is spelled out very clearly, in addition to the importance of apologizing. I found the art style to be adorable and think this book has potential to teach children colors as well as respect for others' spaces. Overall, a cute, concise story.

Get Off my Lawn is an entertaining picture book that teaches young children how to respect the spaces of others, and how to be considerate of others while playing. The book shows how actions have consequences (carelessly playing on somebody else's nice garden will make the wonder upset) and how you can make up for your actions (the children draw pictures of flowers to give to the owner and offer to help clean up the mess they made of his garden.) It also helps humanize elder figures that may be views as scary and abrasive, because the garden owner yells at them to "get off his lawn" which results in them being afraid of him, but at the end he is nice to the children when they apologize, and helps them find a new place to play. Quality illustrations, and a quality lesson for kids to learn in an easy and digestible way.

The publisher got really interesting books for kids.

This one is about respecting each other, something we almost forgot. For kids to ask permission is such a rare sight nowadays. They do it with their parents, but not to other people, and not understanding why it is necessary.

And the old problem: apology. You really need to have the courage to apologize to other, mostly because you don't want to admit that you made mistakes. Your pride hindered you to do so, and it is making things worst.

Two skills that both adults and children need nowadays, with a good example.

My kids often want to pick flowers from people’s yards. I liked that this book addressed that! The mother handled it well with making the kids apologize and help clean up the mess. The illustrations were cute and my kids loved looking at all the details. I also liked how it taught colors along the way for my youngest son. Overall, this was a cute book!

Children are playing on the front lawn of their neighbor and are told (clearly) to get off of it! They’re messing up his beautiful flowers!

They make up for it by painting pictures of new flowers for him to show they are sorry.

LOVED the illustrations for this children’s book, and I really appreciated how children were shown with all different skin tones. Perfect for early childhood.

The illustrations definitely carry this book. I get that it's a teaching resourse but it's extremely simple. Maybe if it rhymed? Just didn't really hold the attention of either of my kids. Beautiful illustrations though

A group of neighborhood children playing a game wander into Mr. Smith's beautiful, carefully tended yard. Mr. Smith becomes enraged and yells at the kids, scaring them off his lawn. As the children express their fear to one of the mother's, she explains that it is rude to go on to someone else's property without permission and offers suggestions on how to make peace with Mr. Smith.

Michael Garland has long been one of my favorite children's book illustrators. In this book, Garland holds the bar high with the full-page, detailed, and brightly colored illustrations. I appreciated the theme of being respectful of other's property, but for me, it came across a little preachy. I think I would have liked to see Mr. Smith be a little softer, and perhaps be the one to explain to the children how hard he worked on his yard and that he was sad and upset they came on his property without asking. I'm not sure Mr. Smith scaring the kids should be excused as acceptable behavior on the part of an adult. They were kids, they were playing and the damage was not intentional in the story - in their own way, they were admiring the beautiful yard, too. There's a good chance I will still add this title to my elementary school library collection, but if I feature it with any classes or students, I will also bring include a conversation of how Mr. Smith could have reacted differently.

This is right on the line between didactic and a good lesson for kids. I would say it's right on the heavy-handed side, but some parents might like how direct it is.

Diverse reads:
- Children are illustrated with a variety of skin tones.

Oh, my. I can't explain why, but this book just tickled me. I love the illustrations. So much. And maybe it's the realistic depiction of the innocent self centeredness of childhood. And that the lesson is kindness. Whatever it is for sure, I loved it.

I first must start out by saying how stunningly beautiful the illustrations in this book are. They display vibrant colours, lots of activity plus emotions that visually enrich the text. I love that Garland includes diversity in the group of children that he creates and makes you feel that you are part of the story as well. The book teaches children some very important life lessons, first about "asking permission and secondly, about "making an apology". Get Off My Lawn highlights: respect for property, empathy, restitution and redemption... all valuable qualities that you want your children to learn early on in life and be aware of. The author includes a helpful guide at the end of the book entitled: "Tips for Parents & Educators."

"It's natural for young children to get excited and then behave in ways that might seem rude. Teaching children how to look at situations from the point of view of others or to have empathy, is one way to help kids better understand how their behaviours can affect those around them."

I love the book and highly recommend it.

This is a great story with an educational side. It a great teaching tool for parents to help with teaching children to ask for permission as well as apologizing. The illustrations were also very well done!

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The art work reminded me of Michael Martchenko's work, who illustrated some of the Robert Munsdt's work, vibrant, funny and full of details.

The story was cute and easy to understand.

I would recommend this book for any parent to add to their child's library. It is about a group of kids who ruin their neighbor's yard without meaning to. The mom in the story teaches them how to apologize and respect other people's property in a very sweet, respectable way. My kids enjoyed this story too. The illustrations are beautiful. I received a free copy of this book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis:

This sweet story follows a group of children who play on an elderly neighbor's front lawn. The neighbor's lawn is full of beautiful flowers and rich, green grass. The children are not careful while they play. They end up destroying many of the flowers, thus upsetting the neighbor. He yells at the children and they run away. They then reflect with a parent about what had happened and resolve to make amends with their neighbor.

Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this story! I grew up reading Garland's books. His latest book is just as sweet and beautiful as his previous works. This story can be used to help children develop multiple social-emotional skills (empathy, points of view, etc.) I plan to include this in my classroom library.

Grade Recommendation: PreK and up

Rating: 5/5 stars.

“Get Off My Lawn!” by Michael Garland is an exquisitely illustrated children’s book about an old man trying to get some pesky children out of his yard. The central message of the book is the importance of acting respectfully, as well as how to make a proper apology. These messages are reinforced through the simple yet meaningful story. I appreciated the guide for parents and educators at the back of the book that provides ways to further support this message. I also loved the diversity included in the characters

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it for all young children to enjoy with the help of a parent or older reader.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book on NetGalley and have provided an honest review.*

This book was so delightful. It reminded me so much of the children's books of my youth with the art style, and the moral. The lesson was well captured. It's such an easy bed time story. The perfect length for a book like this. This book radiated nostalgia for me in a way that I had nearly forgotten.

The illustrations are great. This is a great simple book about kindness and respect. I will be buying this for my school library.

This book, written for early readers, has a great message shared in a story of how we all, no matter what your age, can be more thoughtful of others. The message is share through the use of simple, well written sentences, and beautiful and bright coloured illustrations! The artistry of this book is outstanding and would be enjoyed by all ages.

The 5 stars I've shared are well deserved! I would recommend this book to anyone who has early readers in their life... parents, grandparents, teachers, libraries, etc.

Thanks to Boys Town Press and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

Absolutely beautiful book aimed at young and prereaders. There are some very intricate colourful scenes that provide a lot of opportunities for prereaders to discuss with their adult. Alongside this is the simple text for first readers to get to grips with. I like how there is differing lengths of text, a repetition of the different coloured flowers and a clear moral at the end of the book.

The aim of the text appears to be to teach children to have manners, care for property that isn't their own and to ask permission.

I could not fault this book at all. I think my children will enjoy looking at this over and over whilst the youngest would benefit from it as an entry into general reading.

A well-deserved 5/5 sgtars for a well designed and written book.