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Over in the Garden - Book 2

Writer: Carina Mesquita
Carina Mesquita
Sep 12
4 min read

Updated: 6 days ago

Written by Janna Matthies and illustrated by Tisha Lee

Published by Doubleday Books for Young Readers. Released March 18th 2025.


Cover of Over in the Garden by Janna Matthies. The cover three young children and a puppy all gardening in front of an apple tree and a blue shed


  • Genre/Category: A contemporary fiction picture book for Pre K-6th told in poetry or verse

  • Targeted Age Group: 3-7 years old (Penguin Random House, 2026)

  • Plot Summary: A story set to the classic counting poem Over in the Meadow, Over in the Garden tells the story of a team of young nature lovers learning to work together to take care of their beloved garden.

  • Why This Book?: This is the second of my list of books that came to me as a recommendation from one of my friends with young children. My friend Samantha said this is one she likes to read with her son, and it's easy to see why. It's colorful, beautifully illustrated, and the narration has a fun , familiar rhythm. I was immediately excited when I realized the story was set to the classic poem Over in the Meadow. Over in the Meadow was originally a poem by Olive A. Wadsworth and from 1870! (Wadsworth, 1870) This little counting poem has been reused and remix so many times over the century and a half it's been around. It's pretty remarkable how a catchy rhythm has such staying power. The old can be refreshed and made new again.

  • Evaluation:

    • Musical Voice As I mentioned above, Over in the Garden is an adaptation of an old poem that has seen many iterations. Several of those iterations are musical ones. When reading the book, it's hard not to be hypnotized by the rhythm of the rhyme scheme. It so naturally invites a sing-song voice when reading it out loud, even if you've never heard a musical adaptation before. For a group of young children, a musical voice is a really attractive quality when being introduced to poetry. Song has always been a great mnemonic device to remember things (in this case, counting one through ten). In Children's Literature, Briefly, Young et. al. say in their chapter about poetry "Teachers need to remember that poetry is music. Some children come to poetry through song lyrics." (Young et. al., 2020, p. 118). This book could so easily be sung to an existing melody for Over in the Meadow, e.g. The Laurie Berkner Band version (The Laurie Berkner Band - Kids Songs, 2016), to really make a read-aloud of this story something special.

    • Call and Response A really easy way to get young kids into reading is to invite them to participate in the story. It can be rowdy, like roaring for the wild rumpus in Where the Wild Things Are, or it can be quietly repeating the hushed goodnights given in Goodnight Moon.  For a story like Over in the Garden, it comes with a call and response built in. The young gardeners call out an order, and something repeats it back. In a read aloud setting, it could look something like: Adult: "Over in the garden, in the weeds, in the sunbent a brave little gardener, with her little shovel one.'Dig' said the gardener. Child(ren): 'I dig!' said the one. Adult: And she dug and she tugged in the weeds, in the sun." (Matthies, 2025, p. 2-3). Young et. al. (2020) also discuss poetry as an opportunity for a unified performance. It's a great way to let them play in the sandbox of language by speaking it for themselves. In Oral Interpretation, Gamble and Gamble write "Children love stories. They love to participate. They love to have fun. Have fun yourself, as your imagination takes you into the creative possibilities of children's literature." (Gamble & Gamble, 2002, p. 243). Over in the Garden's playful poetry is an open invitation for the reader(s) to have fun! It's flexible flow allows for one reader or a bunch of them to tell the story together. It's great as a literature experience, and as a classroom/library resource too. It makes poetry that much more inviting to a new crowd.

    • Perspective: I loved the bright paintings and delightful textures of Over in the Garden. But one of the things that stood out the most to me was the use of perspective, because over the course of the whole book, the perspective doesn't change at all. The camera is always positioned in a slightly elevated first-point perspective view. It's as if we are watching the adventure from above, like a bird in a tree watching the garden come to life.

      We aren't in the character's world so much as we are observing it. This unique point-of-view combined with the painted textures makes the whole story look like a paper toy theater.

      Photograph of a paper theater acting out the fairy tale Cinderella.
      Figure 1. A paper theater acting out the classic fairy tale Cinderella. From "The Rise and Fall of Toy Theater" by G. Epps, 2016, Craftsmanship, Copyright 2026.

      It's a really playful style of illustration, and makes sense with our bird's eyes view. We're "watching" the little gardeners put on a show for us. It's this puppet show-esque style is fitting with the story itself being based off an old poem. Calling upon classic examples of storytelling in images and text is a great way to maintain tradition. Turning those images and text into something new breathes new life into them for a new generation. Over in the Garden would be a fantastic addition to a Preschool/Pre-K/Kindergarten classroom. In particular, it would make a great resource for a music teacher to incorporate reading aloud and poetry into their lesson plans. It would be a fitting book to keep on display for a seasonal springtime display as well.

      Special thanks to my friend Samantha Current (and Gordon!) for this recommendation!

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Created by Carina Mesquita for UNT INFO 5421 Fall 2026

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