Books like Grandpa Green — picked by fans

Love taught C.J. to see.

Nana never preaches or teaches with speeches. Nana helps C.J. learn to see the beauty where he didn't even know to look. From the kind bus driver to the blind man, each was respected for their uniqueness.

My favorite part was when they all closed their eyes to listen to the music. C.J. was transported by his imagination high above the city, into the clouds, tasting what he had yet to see.

The grace is evident throughout. When they end at the soup kitchen, and Nana shows her caring, that circle of grace is complete. From Nana's lessons to her laughing, to her caring, her ability to see is that beauty.

There is so much we love about this book. Every page stretches the imagination on how much one can love in physical distance form and it makes you realize that love, in a sense, has not bounds. You can’t guess how much Little Nutbrown Hare is loved, but he are loved endlessly. Not only is this book warm and fuzzy vibes, it makes you want to cry with this father and child relationship. Vivienne’s dad is a big inspiration in my life and it makes her realize how much she love him and hope to be just like him one day.

Richly illustrated, this tender book depicts a conversation between a father and daughter; the promises he makes to her, the worries and reassurances, and the hopes and dreams. Oliver Jeffers books are always wonderfully unique and beautifully lyrical.

A father and daughter set about laying the foundations for their life together. Using their own special tools, they get to work; building memories to cherish, a home to keep them safe, and love to keep them warm. A heartfelt poignant story.

What shall we build, you and I? 

I’ll build your future and you’ll build mine. 

We’ll build a watch to keep our time. 

Hello, Mum is a visual diary of the magical highs and absurd lows that many parents will recognise – from the shock and awe of the baby days to the delight (and terror) of the toddler years and the mayhem of sibling rivalry. Dunbar's fantastically funny, wise, and enchanting drawings capture this precious and fleeting time with heart-touching perfection.

I follow Polly Dunbar on Instagram and loved seeing her daily sketches, depicting the honest highs and lows of Motherhood in the form of beautiful loose pen drawings and handwritten text. So I was thrilled when this visual diary became a book. It is honest, funny, touching, and tender and a beautiful gift for a new mum.

This is perhaps the best-known and most obvious choice illustrating Nature’s healing powers. Mary, an orphaned girl, moves in with an estranged, reclusive uncle on his isolated English estate. Lonely and bereaved, Mary spends her days exploring both the house and extensive gardens, when one day she discovers a secret garden, locked away behind a wall.

This garden, tucked away and neglected for many years, is the key to Mary’s healing. Through quiet deliberation, she begins to bring the garden back to life and, in turn, finds new life in herself. The healing of the uncle is perhaps the most mystical scene in the book for me, brought about by a quiet moment beside a trickling stream, where he has an epiphany of heart healing. I find the book’s mixture of nature and mystery beguiling.

Systematically tracing the origin and history of Japanese gardens back to China and the influences on Chinese gardens, this book provides a great basis for further digging into the foundations of Japanese gardens. It also carefully documents the historical development of gardens in Japan through the mid-twentieth century, situating Japanese garden design as a “vital artistic activity” that both connects to a particular time, place, and culture and transcends it.

Under Western Skies celebrates the best in landscape design throughout many western climates, from mountains to desert to rainforest, from wine country to urban oasis. 36 harmonious designs prove that glorifying nature rather than work against it results in landscapes that belong. The book is full of ideas and inspiration, as well as practical information for the home gardener or the armchair traveler. One reader called it 'an homage to the horticultural arts.'

My grandmother had an enormous vegetable garden. She spent so much time working in it and filling her pantry with jars of jams, jellies, and preserves, I used to wonder what she would do if she ever had to leave it.  

That is exactly what happens to Poppa, who has to move out of his old house with its yard full of trees and flowers, into a small apartment with only a windy balcony. At first Poppa sinks into grief. But a suggestion from his granddaughter Theo gives him an idea for how they can still share the joy of creating a garden together. 

This is a lovely story about how art enriches our lives, and how resilience and imagination can help people of any age cope with unwelcome change.

A young boy spends his mornings with his beloved grandmother. Although her English is limited, they share a quiet closeness as she makes him oatmeal, picks vegetables, and gathers earthworms for her garden. This tender ritual changes when she must leave her home.

There have been some wonderful picture book memoirs published over the last few years, and this is one of my favorites. The story is simple, and the language is beautiful. I love how it builds a heartfelt, lived-in world, evoking themes of poverty and loss using just a few words. The book’s dreamy illustrations and the reader’s imagination fill in the rest. 

A sizzling tale of competition, grandeur, and royal romance—and it’s true! Shakespeare loved writing about court intrigue and this story of Queen Elizabeth and the courtiers & ministers who created spectacular gardens for her has loads of it. People always focus on what was going on behind palace walls & inside castle corridors, but it turns out the real drama is down in the garden. Imagine gilding rosemary bushes so they glitter in the sun. I certainly think the theatricality of the landscape inspired Shakespeare’s work. In addition to being intricate and fascinating, this book impelled me to further investigate Queen Elizabeth’s effect on the green space of the country and seeding the prospect of garden competition. For me, it uncovered an amazing origin story of green desire and the intricate facets of female leadership.