Sharee Miller tells the story of Michelle Obama’s White house vegetable garden in her book, Michell’s Garden. The author begins when Michelle was a child and loved the vegetables her mother prepared. loved vegetables as a child. When Michelle became a wife and mother she prepared vegetables for her family and when she became First Lady she wanted to have a vegetable garden at the White House that would be large enough to feed everyone there and produce enough to share. Since Michelle had never had a vegetable garden before she got help from the White House staff and the children in the neighborhood and together they planted the garden. When the harvest came in, there was plenty of food for all and enough to share with people in need. Directions for starting a paper cup garden are included in the end paper.
The story is delightful and promotes the ideas of healthy diet, trying something new, cooperating to achieve a goal, and sharing with less fortunate people. The author acknowledges that she took some creative license to tell the story, but the message is clear and is emphasized by the repetition of the phrase “More, please”(referring to vegetables at family meals). Written for children in grades K-3, the text is upbeat and enhanced with an abundance of colorful illustrations. I found it odd, however, that there was not more of a resemblance between the President and First Lady and their figures in the book.
The emphasis of Michell’s Garden on vegetables and fruits in a healthy diet is especially valuable for young children and the description of the creation and harvesting of the garden can provide inspiration for parents, teachers and students. The paper cup garden is a creative, hands on, followup activity to reading the book.
The buy Michelle’s Garden from Amazon, click here.
Karen