We certainly had our share of April showers in the Northwest. This means one thing: an abundance of May flowers. I don’t know about you, but when winter departs, I look forward to the spring flower trifecta: daffodils, tulips and iris.
Now that May has arrived, we get to enjoy late spring and early summer blooms. While working in a garden is a year-round activity for some, for others, like yours truly, digging in the dirt is enjoyable once the robins start to sing and the soil warms up. Am I a fair-weather gardener? Indeed.
New gardening books are making their way into the library’s collection as I write this column. Check out today’s reading list for books about growing flowers and edibles as well as titles that provide guidance on how to attract birds, bees and butterflies to your yard. I’m also including two garden-related picture books for young readers (and those of us who are young-at-heart readers). Engage with a famous artist and frisky kittens to understand how nature enriches all creatures great and small.
- The Fragrant Flower Garden: Growing, Arranging & Preserving Natural Scents by Stefani Bittner and Alethea Harampolis
- Growing an Edible Landscape: How to Transform Your Outdoor Space into a Food Garden by Gary Pilarchik and Chiara D’Amore
- Ultimate Gardening: A Complete Guide to Cultivating Your Perfect Garden, from Flowers, Vegetables, and Herbs to Succulents, Shrubs, and More by the staff of Gardening Know How
- The Ultimate Wildlife Habitat Garden: Attract and Support Birds, Bees, and Butterflies by Stacy Tornio
- Gifts from Georgia’s Garden: How Georgia O’Keeffe Nourished Her Art written by Lisa Robinson, illustrated by Hadley Hooper
- This Little Kitty in the Garden written and illustrated by Karen Obuhanych
New at the Library
Fiction
- Feline Fatale by Rita Mae Brown
- Pay Dirt by Sara Paretsky
- What Cannot Be Said by C. S. Harris
Nonfiction
- Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner by Natalie Dykstra
- Work, Retire, Repeat: The Uncertainty of Retirement in the New Economy by Teresa Ghilarducci
- Zaytinya: Delicious Mediterranean Dishes from Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon by Jose Andres
Children
- Coyote Lost and Found by Dan Gemeinhart
- The Iguanodon’s Horn: How Artists and Scientists Put a Dinosaur Back Together Again and Again…and Again written and illustrated by Sean Rubin
- The Truth About the Couch written by Adam Rubin, illustrated by Liniers
This is just a small sampling of the many new titles added each week to the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District collection. Visit the district’s 15 locations, our website at www.fvrl.org, or call (360) 906-5000 to reserve titles or find additional listings.
You can email Jan at readingforfun@fvrl.org.
