First Peas to the Table: How Thomas Jefferson Inspired a School Garden

By Susan Grigsby
Albert Whitman & Company
Forthcoming: February 1, 2012
32 pages

Maya loves contests, so she is excited when her teacher announces they will plant a school garden like Thomas Jefferson’s garden at Monticello–and they’ll have a “First Peas to the Table” contest, just like Jefferson and his neighbors had each spring. Maya plants her pea seeds with a secret head start –found in Jefferson’s Garden Book– and keeps careful notes in her garden journal.

But her friend Shakayla has plans of her own for the contest. Susan Grigsby’s light-hearted classroom story also presents scientific and historical information. Nicole Tadgell’s watercolors add both appeal and botanical accuracy.

Purchase the book here.