Miss Jaster’s Garden by Purple House Press, by N.M. Bodecker, is a whimsical tale about a hedgehog, named Hedgie who lives in Miss Jaster’s garden. This is a hardback book that is approximately 9” by 12”. The book is filled with charming pictures that look to be watercolor. The pictures definitely add spark to this cheery story. The book retails for $18.95.

This book would be suitable for home, library, school, or the homeschool setting. The intended age range for Miss Jaster’s Garden is ages 3-8. With that said, I definitely think that kiddos above the age of eight would find this book entertaining as well.

Miss Jaster lives in the middle of a garden overlooking the sea. Hedgie, the hedgehog just so happens to live in the garden too. They occasionally meet. Miss Jaster brings saucers of milk out for Hedgie. Miss Jaster comes out to begin her spring planting. Hedgie happens to be in the garden while Miss Jaster is planting. Miss Jaster plants Marigold, Baby’s Breath, and Sweet William. Hedgie decides to lay still in the garden. He kind of likes the feel of the rake scratching his back and the sprinkle of the water can like a gentle rain upon his back. He hardly feels the seeds falling on him. As time passes by his back begins to itch and crawl. He goes to the toolshed where there is a small puddle of water that he uses as a mirror. As he peers into the puddle he soon discovers something very interesting. What do you think he finds?

My 10-year-old daughter read this book and said, “This book was so cute. I really think little kids will like this book a lot. I loved all of the pictures in the book. Miss Jaster kind of makes me laugh. She is a bit of a crazy but sweet old lazy too. It would be so fun to meet Hedgie in real life.”

 I really liked Miss Jaster’s Garden. The book was very sweet. After reading this book I thought of so many fun activities that one could do with younger kiddos to go along with this book. How fun would it be to find a template of a hedgehog and print it out for kiddos to color and then either print out various flower templates or use real flowers to glue on top of the hedgehog, or Hedgie. Another fun activity would be to go to your local gardening center and find Marigold, Baby’s Breath, and Sweet William seeds and let your kiddos plant these seeds to grow their own flowers just like Miss Jaster.

I would absolutely recommend this book to mothers of young children, teachers, and friends. Be sure to check out all of the other books on the Purple House Press website.

-Product review by Jennifer Ladewig, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, September, 2018