It taught me to take in a picture and take snapshots in my mind to memorize beautiful scenery. I am a rose grower and cant wait to read this book!. Not in big ways, but I try to give back where I can, protect nature where I can, inspire growth where I can (both literally and figuratively), and take only what I need. To help them live a long and healthy life! More power to both of you! lost birth certificate near berlin; food that rhymes with alexis. My mothers Encyclopedias had the most beautiful pictures from places and animals around the world. Such a unique idea! My daughter loves seek & find books, this would be wonderful to look through together. My favorites kind of books as a kid were the ones that you were the hero and that youd decide the outcome of the story. My all time favorite book since childhood would be The Robe. Thank you, for the look back and the interview. One of my favorite books ever was this book called The Adventures of the Black Hand Gang. Wish I had that book! Our stories is the one thing nobody can take away from us. As an adult Im still thinking about our planet but now its how to make it a little bit prettier with flowers as well as what can I do to be kind to the planet that I always read about when I was little. Ive always loved gardening and I am sure this is one of many books that planted those first seeds of botanical wonder. I feel I ve looked through the eyes of this creature for the rest of my life; with a bit of distance, with a lot of wonder and curiosity. I do remember my favorite book which I reread MANY times.The Secret Garden. I am still the same as an adult, except now I get to explore the world more. I wish I had kept them to read to my children and now grandchildren. The Little Women was my favorite. So many adventures and life lessons as families pulled together to make a life for themselves. I found it fascinating that they could enter a wardrobe and into a fantasy land! Probably the free Sears catalog . As a child I loved The Boxcar Children and imagined what it would be like using my creativity to make a life in the cool woods! I dont think there were any books that directly contributed to that, but its more of an evolution of my love of circles and patterns which I do think may have some root in the physical shape of lens on my cameras, so maybe it is all connected. It has been my great pleasure over the years to try my own arrangements for friends, delivering them some joy and comfort in both good times and times of loss. Thank you for your support! Here are the top book recommendations from World Book Day for each age category including under-twos, five to eight-year-olds, nine to 12-year-olds and teens, as well as the top 25 picture books. As a youngster any book to do with horses was my jam! My favorite was The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Pollaco. Anything Snoopy & Peanuts. What a great idea for a book. Loved all the Mary Poppins books. I was truly touched by this article as I feel in love with the Ziggy bloom. I loved being able to re-read each story and have a few different endings. My favorite book growing up was..The Secret Garden. It inspired me to explore the woods waters and meadows of western New York to find flowers to paint my botanical watercolors .The excitement of finding beautiful treasures at every turn.that became the Secret that Im still loving as I grow .paint and photograph flowers and the pollinators. My favorite childhood books always had animals and nature in them. Also, Burgess Bedtime Stories, Adventures of Jimmy Skunk, Unc. The people I might meet. It was always fun to imagine stories about the items or people in those books. . My 3 children inherited my love of books and we discovered the seek and find books when my youngest was born in 1996, and they quickly became her favorite. Probably the first book I read was the Secret Garden, but I loved the imagination behind James and the Giant Peach. Was your mom Sue at all involved in the making of Lost & Found? So I thought one day Id like to write a story about one instead. I have always loved how to books, which I think comes from a very independent, driven sort of personality. I loved Narnia! (Winnie the Pooh, Peter Rabbit, Corduroy, Little Bear, etc. The Boxcar children were another favorite. Next was Heinlein and Ray Bradbury, and now Im a lifelong reader, always looking for a new author to try. Set in a land so far away the only way to access it was through your imagination. Now, that I learned a lot about her life, the paintings and her great love for flowers and nature of this outstanding woman , I can say , that she gave me so much inspiration for my own way of live and my passion for gardening as a grown-up person. We were running back and forth from the field getting those last little bits until we were both happy. She leaves gifts in exchange for your hair! Love this interview and the work that you dothank-you for sharing it all! My most favorite books from childhood were those from Richard Scarry. Without a doubt Charlottes Web. I loved looking at the I Spy book series as a kid, which are filled with miniatures of all kinds, and I still love miniatures too! My childhood favorites are Grimms Fairytales, The Lord of the Rings series, anything about fairies, and a picture book called The Seamstress of Spitz that I cant find now but that I remember had ornate detailed drawings of very fancy princess/queen dresses which I loved. I look forward to reading this ew took from down under. A salad is the perfect way to get your daily dose! Currently my 5 year old is really into Wheres Waldo and I Spy books! Especially loved anything about how things were in the olden days ! We would escape to imagine something only to find it in our neighborhood and celebrate that find. I didnt realize it at the time, but I loved books with strong female protagonists; Nancy Drew, Anne of Green Gables, The Boxcar Children. Id flitter off to the kids section while he picked out books or just walk through rows. When I was 7 -8 years old it was Charlottes Web. I loved the old Jessie Willcox Smith illustration books. Oh how I wish I still had that book I cannot remember the name of it and therefore cannot find it again but I remember reading it while laying in the lawn in the back yard and loving the stories within its pages. My favorite childhood stories always had animals and nature in them. Well, Ive had to reach back many decades to remember the books Ive read as a child. Thanks for this interactive book. You have inspired me to work toward creating a garden that would captivate my child self. Now, as I start my flower journey, I seek out learning opportunities to better my understanding of soil/soil health, bio-diversity. clear. I got my first dog at age 6, a beagle and I named him Snoopy. As an adult and educator, I have shared it with many others too. Strangely, I think it may have been the Choose Your Own Adventure books. However, I was always interested in the vegetable garden and the flowers that my mom grew. I loved the idea of a secret place neglected at first which comes alive with some care and attention. I am so drawn to it. I read a lot of poetry as a child and when I saw your question, this poem sprang to mind I couldnt help but share! Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake; The Twits by Roald Dahl. Can you share some of your favorite sources? The Poppy Seed Cakes by Margery Clark was a favorite as was Ask Mr. Bear by Marjorie Flack. Wow, quel beau livre! Rackham, Duracell, Robinson, and. although it isnt related to the book directly, my spying led to my love of gardening in a roundabout way no doubt. The only way my parents could get me to put them on at bedtime was to buy me a new Little Golden Book every day, which theyd read to me as they strapped the braces on. Indeed, I was able to make that my lifes work. With my petals full of dew, As a child, I enjoyed books of mystery like Nancy Drew books. and gardening and flowers are part of that hope. I felt drawn to the characters with their secrets and troubles, the beautifully strange darkness of the rainy days up on the Moor as described in the book, and mostly the dear old secret garden itself, with its creative powers of healing and health. I was raised on a dairy farm and there were 8 children. I owe it all to my first book. It brought the Bible stories to life with images of Gods nature. I read that book over and over! When I was young, I loved The Magic Treehouse books. I was always drawn to magical illustrations. My love for flowers came from helping my grandmother tend to her beautiful garden. Id get as close to finished as I could and then Id call out to her, MUM! Shed be somewhere in the field keeping things ticking along, usually weeding, thats her favourite (literally). I loved to find old fairy tale books from the rare thrift stores back in the late 1950s. Growing up I enjoyed adventure/mystery books with a little sprinkle of romance. As a young child, I read every Little Golden Book I could get my hands on! Zoes book is absolutely stunning! Today I still like to press flowers and as of spring 2021 I am now an urban flower farmer. We hope you enjoy them! Im sure I read others, but those came to mind first. These pages are a feast for the eyes, and the soul. Its respectful to take care as we visit these places. There is no doubt this love of reading shaped who I am as an adult, as by expanding your knowledge you bring so much more to your experiences and the people you meet. Books with animals such as Winnie the Pooh, The Black Stallion, and Justin Morgan had a horse were favorites too as I became an avid reader. Little house on the prairie had the biggest impact on my childhood. We would pretend we lived out in the woods just like the boxcar kids did, and those are some of my favorite childhood memories. Wowsuch a color explosion! I think that book pushed me to appreciate nature and flowers more, although I always have loved them; the graphic descriptions of an old dying garden hidden from the world behind crumbling stone walls and ever-climbing ivy sounded fantastical and yet, real, to me. As a child, my favorite booksfictional as well as true storieswere about girls and women throughout history and how they lived- especially stories about surviving and thriving in nature: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Karana in The Island of Blue Dolphins, the heroines in Jubilee Trail and in The Singing Joneses, Opal Whitely. Beautiful book! Mysteries always mysteries. I still do. Part of the reason that I love flowers so much is getting to share their beauty with others to brighten their day. Wasnt much of a readern though, because I was more likely to be found outside on my many adventures! As a child I loved adventurous stories of children in Nature the Laura Ingalls Wilder series, Hatchet, Julie of the Wolves, Island of the Blue Dolphins. Did you enjoy seek-and-find books as a child? When we went to the beach, I would spend hours picking up seashells and then I would go and buy books so that I could identify them and make a display. When I was about 4 years old my mother gave me a little spot in her large garden for my very own. Eating a salad is one of the smartest things you can do! I sure do! , and I was fortunate enough to get a copy to review in advance. Flowers take most of those same paths into our lives. Impossible to pick a favorite book from my childhood; just too many I loved. Children forming friendships, the invalid boy, the magical garden (I seem to recall it was gated?) Beautiful woods!) I loved (and still do!) The perfect way to start my day with this post and a cup of coffee! Here are some super simple food activities. I think it helped me to appreciate the simple in life and Im very grateful for that now as an adult! Now, love to sit in the evenings and just look at the books with flowers and floral arrangements. As a child, I loved to read anything with adventure and history. The dairy fairy will come and make your wish come true! The photographs and stories really opened up my mind and made me realize there is so much to learn and explore. I was about 7 years old, and to this day I still remember how deeply her story touched me. We just moved to Rhode Island from Central New York and I am having fun learning the new growing season and all of the wonderful flowering shrubs and trees that couldnt winter over in New York. My brother wanted me to come play outside with him so he would make a wagon cozy for me with blankets, stuffed animals, and my books so I could be out in the garden with him and keep him company. One of my favorite books from childhood is A Time To Keep, by Tasha Tudor. Each evening was a new adventure. Amber Doig As a child let loose in a library, I would just flit from book to book randomly, like a bee or butterfly in a flower patch. The scale of damage is beyond anything I have ever seen, so many have lost everything and many are still cut off with no access in or out. That was a lot of books! I still have the copy my Mother gave me which was printed in 1938. I had a book called The Secret Garden, that I was obsessed with. I love how they were interactive and different, I think the books have helped shape me as someone who likes to think outside of the box, be a little different/quirky, follow your passions and interests and dont worry about the crowd. I still have these books & will cherish them forever. In elementary school, I always gravitated toward the biography section. Ham/jeans? I ended up getting a bachelor degree in biology and plant pathology and love studying anything related to earth science. They were alone but took care of each other. Im especially interested to hear if there are any new rose varieties you cant live without! We also used to have a game called the garden game and it was our absolute favourite game to play. I Spy books were favorites of mine growing up and still are, as Ive introduced them to my children. As an adult, I still love stories with a good landscape in them. My mom also got us an amazing book full of short stories. It is funny to me and interesting to my family that I am such a bright, colorful, fun person, with this love of elegant flowers, but I have such a passion for all things horror and macabre. Especially love Eric Carle as a child. He went through three or four novels in a two week period. Ended up majoring in physics, getting a Ph.D. in Materials Science, and doing aerospace materials research. So grab a snack and get ready to rhyme! It sounds like Zoe Field is the same! I will give a big shout-out to Sarah Hawkless of Emerden, who I have bought seeds and plants from over the years. My favorite books have been many, but I can honestly say it was to seed catalogs, with the pictures of the flowers that drew my attention. Many of the seeds were from Erin Florets: nicotiana Tinkerbell and the coral Amarenth were stellar in my bouquets. The Princess Bride was definitely one of my favorites and I cant deny that Ive read Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings multiple times over. Im sure many of them had some mention of flowers that has shaped my view of gardening.. The Hardy Boys mysteries took me on adventures far away from the hard work of our small truck farm and produced a great reader as an adult. Billy Possum, Reddy Fox, and Peter Cottontail. It seems like many of these imagined creative characters and their lovely vignettes are inspired by your own life. My earliest series book was the Little House on the Prairie books. To learn more and connect with Zo, be sure to visit her website and follow her on Instagram and Facebook. It helped me picture the story and allowed for better reading. Many times the hidden treasure can be a small flower popping up unexpectedly . beautiful book! Lots of pretty flowers in the artwork of a funny little story. Same with I Spy, at first glance, a page looks no different than your grandmas cluttered home, but with curiosity, youre led to reveal the treasured objects and their stories. I love the Laura Ingalls series! Id rather have something home-made and free. However, my absolute favorite books as a child, were Better Homes and Garden magazines. I loved getting lost imaginative world of nature. I related well to her being uprooted and trying hard to blossom in a new place. I loved reading mysteries maybe thats why I love mystery podcasts now and why I love learning new things! From little house a love of the simple life and living off the land, living outside as much as inside. I learned that a book could feed the soul and take you on an adventure. I have sought that out working for one of the upscale hotels where I live at the front desk and working with caterers. It is still a treasure of mine. Eventually, my Dad handed me an adult book and said here, I think youll like this. Our favorite books as I raised my four babies were The Wheres Waldo series and The Choose Your Own Adventure Series. Thank you for sharing this book; Im not sure I would have found it otherwise! I especially loved the rocks and gems. I was such a big reader as a kid (and still am!) My favorite books growing up!!! I have long-admired Zo from afar and am dying to visit her farm in person someday. Over the winter, we pulled out lots of roses that were underperforming. Trixie Belden Mysteries! I loved Enid Blytons series The Famous Five and The Secret Seven. Ultimately the tales of a self-sufficient simple life must have grabbed me. My daughter is a voracious reader, so it was fun to introduce her to the historical characters and watch her love of reading bloom. I loved American and English literature like The Great Gatsby, Wuthering Heights, The Scarlet Letter and Treasure Island. And give me a good princess story anytime. I had a strong imagination and really felt like I was following the characters on all their adventures. The stories and gorgeous artwork captivated my childhood imagination. Crockets Indoor garden was my favorite book to look at with my dad when I was a kid. We need to see beauty in times like these. They were a fast and easy way to earn stickers for the program. She also subscribed me to a Nancy Drew book club. . He suggested a book called Kane and Abel. My favorite type of books as a kid were mysteries. Although I read over 100 Nancy Drew books and have collected dozens of gardening encyclopedias over the years. I also have many flower books that I sit and peruse with my grandchildren and this one would just amp up the fun wed have exploring flowers together. Using our senses and creativity a quality nurtured by nature. I probably buy enough books to support the entire publishing industry, it started with anything about horses, especially artist illustrated. My favorite childhood books always had gentle fat ponies or horses, fields and small farms and children (like me) with pails filled with something theyd picked or grown or collected.. With great soil you can grow anything :-). The first book that comes to mind is To Kill A Mockingbird. The title in itself is a beautiful reminder that hurting the innocent is the worst crime of all. I feel like her journey parallels my own in so many ways; motherhood, farming, homeschooling, growing as a violinist. :-). Now that Im an adult I feel myself drawn back towards that kind of lifestyle. I also loved listening to my mom read American Girl books to me. Mais aujourdhui en tant quadulte jadore lire des livres qui parle de croissance personnelle, ou encore des livres de tricot ( jadore le tricoter) et rcemment jai dcouvert quil y avait des fermes florale , chose que je ne savais pas que cela existait. Growing up I had a fascination with fairies and woodland creatures. Anything with strong girl characters. My newest hobby is flowers so this book would be much enjoyed by my daughters and I. I loved books that showed the strength and compassion of children. As a child I loved to read and collect books. Please reread his poetry. If there were a picture book that captured me, Id say anything about Christopher Robin and Pooh. . As a young child I was enamored by books portraying animals wearing clothing living in furnished homes underground, in trees, miniature houses tucked away in the middle of forests or beautiful gardens. When i was young, kids in school were always interested in Captain Underpants books at reading time. This book looks amazing! They were books about kids reading books, going on adventures, and solving problems! Ive loved to read for as long as I can remember. Funny thing is that I really didnt like reading as a child, I couldnt sit still and would rather be outside immersed in imaginative play creating Daisy and dandelion flower chains . But my favorite that I went back to time and again was a set of encyclopedias we had in our home. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to enjoy another new book! . Wow! My cant recall these childhood books by name but I am forever indebted to the knowledge building blocks they gave me. These books stuck with me over the years. I didnt have it as a child but I have read them over and over to my children. I plant more and more every year on our small farm in Oregon. Now she is sharing that love of reading with her niece Lilly who is almost 2 years old and also loves books! Now that Ive begun a habit of nature journaling and watercolor I often think back to those formative days of reading those beloved novels. I notice details and pick up on peoples body language and am always interested in knowing peoples stories. My favorite book when I was little was The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear. One of my favorite stories was about the garden fairies. Congratulations on the new beautiful book! I loved mysteries and Nancy Drew in particular. I would travel the neighborhood on my bike, or walking to school and bring home my treasures of sticks, flowers, rocks and bugs. When I was 12, I found Pearl Bucks The Good Earth on my mothers bookshelf. We are just moving into a new build with a blank slate and cannot wait to get started. My favorites were always the books filled with magic and wonder! It really didnt matter what it was, I would read every word of cereal boxes! She arranged glass, bowl and book on the window sill and climbed out on the fire-escape. Sometimes the magic is my own appreciation for friends, family, nature, or what we can cultivate ourselves. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. I think Winnie the Pooh stories were a favorite. 1: cathexis: k uh th e k s i s: 2006: Definition: 2 . Seeing her work would fuel my imagination and bring joy. I loved mysteries as a kid. If I wanted to enjoy the flowers that I loved so much, I needed to venture out into the neighborhood to investigate. I think they helped stir up my sense of adventure! So if youre feeling hungry and need a little something to tide you over. To win a copy of this exquisite new book. Its the story of the power of beauty and how it brings people together and spreads joy. My favorite book as a child was The Velveteen Rabbit. I had many favorites at that time, but I always went back to Adventure stories like Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe; I think I read that book each summer for 3 years! I mostly loved books about adventure and animals. I was that child who was always reading from a very young age. Thanks for celebrating the beauty we can add to the mix! Also reading all of the Babysitters Club books was a must. :). I was always in love with animals and the natural world, but as an eight-year-old, that story really opened up my imagination, even more so with animals as sentient beings. One of my favorite childrens books is The Secret Garden. There was a point in my life when I was trying to put together poems about nature, I was so impressed by its beauty! Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings. Also loved Island of the Blue Dolphins and Anne of Green Gables. And the result was I would rather sit and read than go outside and play. Although I had to borrow many as we could not afford a library-full, each one seemed to nurture a sense that there was mystery all around me. . I loved those adventurous stories and the magic that happened (cue my later obsession with Harry Potter), but they also presented real facts and history in a way that was so beautiful and interesting. . Today, Im finding great joy in seeing what I can grow and cultivate. Zoe, your work is amazing! What a beautiful book! I read EVERYTHING as a kid, but some of my fondest parenting memories are snuggling my Littles while spying objects in ISpy books their delight at spying before I did will forever bring me joy. Flowers AND a similar format? As I child, I read whatever I could find. It just made reading fun while planting biggest of info with every read. As a child, I was always drawn to three types of books: fiction, scientific discovery, and coffee table books. Today I love reading all genre of books, but I am amazed at the beautiful childrens books with such vivid artwork that are available to read aloud to our children and grandchildren. Her love of flowers & nature & imagination drew me right in. Several years ago our State Fair did a floral design theme of stories and the one I had to do was The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe I read that book and watched the movie so I would be better able to interpret that story in flowers. God bless you and your farm. I was really interested in the chicken soup for the soul books as a child. The pink-and-white peppermint wafers bought that morning were arranged in a little bowl, cracked, but of a pretty blue color. I was the youngest kid in town to get my own library card and the librarian have me a gold locket necklace that I still have. Growing up in a bilingual family, it helped me with both languages. But now that I am getting older and more into gardening as a hobby, I cannot get enough picture books of anything floral! My favorite book as a child was Bambi and I loved Thumper peaking his head out in the field of wild flowers. (Her foxgloves began my own love for them too). Books with secluded gardens, tucked away blooms, and a little mystery were always a favorite. I have never forgotten it and all my kids and grandkids have copies! It helped me get through all my years of babysitting. All those books are likely what has fuelled my interest in history, especially in learning about every day lives of people from the past. She chipped off a small piece and put it in a glass of water. Its all so much fun. I loved anything about nature and animals growing up. I spend my days raising animals and growing flowers, herbs, and vegetables to make nutritious meals and herbal remedies while also creating a delightful scene. I loved the BabysitterClub and anything by Judy Blume. XO) And great interview and story Zoe! I loved the Velveteen Rrabbit book as a kid. My favorite books as a child were called the Millie Series about a girl and her family who were a part of the pioneer days. Its been quite a while since we last interviewed youcan you give an update on how things have changed since we last spoke on the blog? I was obsessed with gardening and animals. Win or not, I need this book. "Chicken, chicken, so good to eat. As a child, I discovered biographies in my school library. Also the Frog and Toad books and the Wind in the Willows and Little Bear. They sounded like a melody to me as a child. I loved all sorts of books as a child and the library was a thing of wonder to me. This is the book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupry. I became an art director of publications, seeking out and surrounded by many talented photographers and illustrators and still enchanted with gorgeous books. I am a woman of 70 years. I know it sounds cliche but it provided me a glimpse of another world that could be mine. All beautiful .. As a child we had a set of encyclopedias (Ive just dated myself), I loved paging them to find obscure facts. Zoes book looks magical! I think such detail oriented books helped me to continue noticing the little things as an adult- both academically and whilst gardening. Winners will be announced on March 7. It was such a simple time. Encouraging them to look for the things they want to find. Thankyou also Erin for sharing this interview as we see the beauty of gardens from all different places . One book could tell so many stories and encouraged re-reading. Her grandfather lived by the sea. Thank you for sharing them, along with your interview introducing Zoe, her mum and dad. think they have taught me to be aware of all around me- really enjoy people watching and nature watching. I think I am fascinated by the balance of good and evil, by the juxtaposition of beauty and ugliness, which is also found in nature all the time. We should all care for others and listen to their stories, I think it would make a better world. Hands down some of my favorite books as a child were the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingles Wilder. I sped through the Goosebumps series at the library and then was left hunting for more ways to get that safe, scary thrill of reading a horror novel.