2014 Winner: Children's Science Picture Book

It’s Our Garden: From Seeds to Harvest in a School Garden, by George Ancona. Photos by George Ancona. Candlewick, 2013.

Writer/photographer Ancona shares his fascination with a school garden that serves as a learning laboratory near his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Over the course of a year, he photographed students, their friends, teachers, and families as they tended to the garden, from seed to harvest. In keeping with scientific traditions, the students featured in Ancona’s book make plans, act on them, observe the results, and keep records. Ancona's photographic essay is enhanced by the students' drawings of the plants and insects that keep the garden thriving, and the wildlife that finds a home there. Appropriate for elementary-school readers, the book may also inspire adults to help organize gardens for children's schools.