And the Good Brown Earth

And the Good Brown Earth by Kathy Henderson, Candlewick Press, 2003, ISBN 1-4155-3531-0
PS: Joe and Gram grow a garden, with the help of the good brown earth.
Well constructed book about the life cycle of a garden. Sequencing cues appear throughout the book as Gram declares it is "digging time" or "weeding time". The whole storyline is tied together with the phrase "And the good brown earth got on with doing what the good brown earth does best....day after golden day until..."

Flower Garden by Eve Bunting

Flower Garden by Eve Bunting, illus by Kathryn Hewitt, harcourt Brace and Co., 1994, ISBN 0-15-228776-0
Publisher's Summary: Helped by her father, a young girl prepares a flower garden as a birthday surprise for her mother.
A warm, sweet book about a little girl working hard to bring joy to her mother on her birthday. Great book for kindergartners--use when studying gardens, springtime, colors, flowers, following directions, sequencing, lots of possibilities. Some good upper-level vocabulary words to introduce as well (trowel, pansies, daffodils, geraniums, jamboree).

Together in Pinecone Patch by Thomas F. Yezerski

Together in Pinecone Patch by Thomas F. Yezerski, Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publishers, 1988, ISBN 0-374-37647-6
Publisher's Summary: A girl from Ireland and a boy from Poland overcome the prejudices held by the residents of the small American town to which they have emigrated.
Tags: immigrants, prejudices
Lots of possible uses for this book: character (they change a lot!), setting (from Europe to America), problems and solutions, and even sequence. The last page sums it up beautifully: "Keara and Stefan lived happily together for the rest of their days. Stefan told his children stories...His favorite story was about a boy from a land of golden meadows and a girl from a land of green hills, who came thousands of miles to a town of nightmares and dreams, just to be together."
Here's a link to the book on the author's website.

Strega Nona's Harvest by Tomie dePaola

Strega Nona's Harvest by Tomie dePaola, GP Putnam's Sons, 2009, ISBN 978-0-399-25291-4
Publisher's Summary: After helping Strega Nona plant her vegetable garden just so, Big Anthony takes some extra seeds and sows another garden willy-nilly, then must find a way to deal with the consequences.
gardening, food production, following directions, sequence
Mentioned in Margo Dill's Read These Books and Use Them, a great blog about how to use children's books in leson plans!

Applesauce Season by Eden Ross Lipson

Applesauce Season by Eden Ross Lipson, illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein, Roaring Brook Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-59643-216-1
Story relaying a family's annual tradition of making applesause. Grandmother officially declares that it's applesause season "just about the time school opens, when it is still hot and summery but vacation is over." The book goes on to follow the family through the preparations involved, and how each batch is different because of the different kinds of apples involved. The young boy, also the narrator, has a special part to play in the making of the applesauce. It's a comforting, happy story of a family and its traditions. Would be good for sequencing and discussing different kinds of apples. Good for food production (from apple tree to applesauce). Use with grades 2 or 3. This book is included in a great list of picture books for ages 5-8 found on Bookworm for Kids.