The Extraordinary Gardener bookcover

The Extraordinary Gardener

Sam Boughton

SHORTLISTED FOR THE KLAUS FLUGGE PRIZE 2019. Longlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2019.

Joe is a boy just like any other, but Joe loves to imagine. Joe lives in a pretty ordinary tower block, in a rather ordinary city. His world is rather grey. However, he spends his time imagining a wonderful world filled with exotic plants and unusual animals. Once day Joe decides to plant a seed on his balcony, he waits and waits but nothing happens! Joe gives up and goes back to his daily life, but one day when he least expects it he spots that the seed has turned into the most beautiful tree. Joe begins caring for the tree and growing lots of other plants on his balcony and soon everyone in the neighbourhood is getting involved.

A charming story about the important of nature, teaching us that if we work hard enough our dreams really can come true!

Latest reviews

I really like this book about gardening as i love flowers so much and this was really nice story

Book about a boy who dreams of an amazing garden and begins to grow plants. I liked the pictures but felt like nothing really happened in this book.

I like this book because I also like to do gardening with my nanny

Sweet story.

This was a lovely book which links science and pshe. The vocabulary was simple and my six year old son was able to guess what would happen at the end of some sentences which was nice. The illustrations are beautiful and I would definitely recommend this book

I loved everything about this book

I loved the extraordinary ending!

I like it because Joe made a beautiful garden with colourful flowers .

I read this book with the Year 1/2 classes and we are now using it as the inspiration for a weaving project. The story is lovely. The illustrations are beautiful. đź“š

It was brilliant because I loved it so much

The children loved the illustrations… Could use it with an older group too. 🌺

I really like this book, it shows how colourful and bright the world can be with plants

I love the pictures and the way Joe takes care of his plants and shares them with his neighbours.

The story of Joe, a daydreamer with a wild imagination, and what happens when he plants his own tiny seed. Sam Boughton's illustrations really complement the story and bring to life both of Joe's worlds - the grey, although still detailed, one around him and the richly coloured one of his imagination. This would be a lovely story to share with children in EYFS/KS1, to explore how the actions of one little boy start to change the world around him for the better, from 'ordinary to ... extraordinary!', as shown on the pull out page which ends the book. I really liked the contrasting endpapers too.

The book was a little longer for my one...

Good Lovely pictures

This is a fiction book. It is very good because I like plants and them growing. Joe is the best gardener in the world because he made lots of trees grow up into the sky.

I liked Joe the best because Joe made this world a better place by planting more plants.I think planting more plants will help our environment and help all living things survive.I would certainly recommend this book since it is a sweat story which teaches you how to make this world a better place.

Lovely illustrations that help tell the story of how one seed can bring a community together

I liked this book because it was about nature. I liked the boy the most becuase he had an extraordinary life. I will recommend this book to someone because it was about a big difference between a seed and a huge plant.

The Reading Agency

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