Jayden’s Impossible Garden
Grades: PreK-3
Written by Mélina Mangal, Illustrated by Ken Daley
Published by: Free Spirit Publishing, 2021
ISBN: 978-1631985928
Recommended Reading
Autumn is quickly approaching. Can you feel the weather starting to cool? Can you see the leaves starting to change? When the colors on the leaves begin to change, it means that they aren’t getting as much sunlight. The chemical called ‘chlorophyll’ makes leaves green, and when they don’t get as much sunlight, they don’t produce as much of this green color. In autumn, the leaves finally turn into their real colors! Animals, like plants, also change their behavior in the autumn to prepare for winter. Animals like bears, bats, skunks, chipmunks, and groundhogs will eat lots and lots of food. This gives them plenty of fat on their bodies to keep them warm and give them energy during the cold winter months.
Living in a city, it can be difficult to see these changes as they occur. But not for Jayden! He sees nature everywhere in his city. He sees dandelions growing out of the sidewalk, he sees squirrels hiding their nuts, and he hears birds calling out to each other. His mom, though, struggles to see the beauty of what he sees. She has a big job and is busy taking care of Jayden. So, Jayden becomes inspired to bring together his neighbors, and his mom, to show them how magical nature can be in the middle of the city.
This book empowers youth to find the beauty of nature wherever they are, and to sow the seeds of change while enhancing their intergenerational relationships.
Find Nature Where You Live
Jayden’s Mama has a hard time finding nature among all the buildings and cars in her city. What does nature look like where you live? Are you near a forest or a mountain? Maybe you live in a desert or by a lake. Maybe you also live in the city, like Jayden. Can you find plants or animals? Can you hear birds?
Jayden works hard to grow a garden in his community, making nature even more accessible for the people around him. What is something that you love about your community? What can you do to make it better?
PLT Activities
Jayden’s Impossible Garden includes a host of activities in the back of the book. In addition, PLT has several activities that can accompany Jayden’s journey.
Use this book with the following activities from PLT’s Explore Your Environment: K-8 Activity Guide:
Backyard Naturalist (formerly Backyard Safari) invites children to go outside and look for signs of nature and animal life and allows them to consider how the animals in their area get food, water, and shelter.
Charting Biodiversity lets children learn how animals in different environments have adapted to where they live, why there are so many different species, and the overall value of biodiversity.
PLT’s Trees & Me: Activities for Exploring Nature with Young Children also has activities such as Fall for Trees (how nature readies for winter) and Community Explorers (how our communities and trees provide the things we need) that go right along with Jayden’s story and help us find nature in our daily lives.
About the Author and Illustrator
Mélina Mangal looks for the voices of youth that aren’t often heard. She writes short stories, works as a school library teacher, and spends as much time outdoors as she can, accompanied by her family. She has won the Carter G. Woodson Book Award and was named an NCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People. Jayden’s Impossible Garden is the winner of the 2019 African American Voices in Children’s Literature writing contest.
Ken Daley pulls his inspiration from his African-Caribbean roots, as well as from the people and cultures he’s encountered throughout his life.
Megan Annis
Megan Annis
