The garden … is hidden from the street. It’s been here for a hundred years, nestled close beside the house – a house built long ago behind another house. This is a garden you would not suspect is there.” A small garden in the heart of downtown Toronto offers young readers a glimpse of a mysterious and wondrous world described by author Barbara Nichol.

Here are secrets and surprises, a world of growing things, animal adventurers, and stories of some of the people who’ve marvelled at changes to this little patch of ground. It’s a tour that maps out the seasons, but it’s not strictly chronological. Like Nichol’s narrative itself, young readers have the chance to wander down its paths, checking out the burgeoning flowerbeds, the mulberry tree with its black inky berries, and the tree of heaven that grows beside the flat-rooted garage. Nichol weaves repeating strands into this patchwork narrative – a dying maple tree, a family of raccoons, two little girls having a picnic, and Butch, a stray cat and garden regular who has lived his whole life on the streets “as far as anyone knows.”

One Small Garden is rich and lush. It’s a book that seems at first glance totally different from Nichol’s previous works (Dippers, Biscuits in the Cupboard, and Trunks All Aboard), its tone softer, more intimate, elegiac. But like all her work, it celebrates not only the power of the imagination but also that same sly, playful sense of fun that immediately engages young readers. Nichol weaves a fair amount of nature lore in between the anecdotes that make up the bulk of her story. Small pastel watercolour illustrations by American master Barry Moser, who illustrated Dippers, are sprinkled throughout, neatly complementing the mood without overwhelming the text. Especially memorable are Moser’s animal portraits. One Small Garden is an excellent book to read aloud in the classroom to enhance nature studies.