Books and Broccoli

Every year I try a new vegetable in my garden. Last year it was corn, which immediately attracted a 157,000 new garden pests. The chipmunks were thrilled by the addition of the corn, but no one else really was (see: 157,000 new garden pests) so this year we replaced the corn with broccoli. My kids have never been broccoli’s No. 1 fans, but they’ll eat it so I figured it was worth a shot.

Score.

Turns out broccoli is incredibly easy to grow as it’s a crop that can be started early, before mosquitoes and heat and humidity make you wonder why you’d ever hoed a garden in the first place. It doesn’t take up too much room. And the only pests that came with it were the caterpillars for cabbage butterflies, which ate some of the leaves, but left the crowns alone. On top of that, broccoli is incredibly prolific. After the first, perfect crown is harvested, all sorts of little shoots start growing off the plant. They’re not as compact or pretty, but they taste great. When the kids need a snack, they go to the garden, break off a stalk, and eat.

So what does this have to do with books? So glad you asked!
I heard a story recently about a 15-year-old who is going to have a bummer of a summer: she’s spending it in and out of the hospital, recovering from an injury. A friend wanted to send her some books, but was told not to. “She’s not really that into reading.”

I won’t go into the rant I went into the other day. But I can’t help wondering: If you grow the broccoli, will she eat it? If you find, somehow, the perfect crown, will more shoots follow?

The fine people over at PBS Booklights have been writing recurring posts about growing young readers. The optimist in me says that readers can still grow at any age; that the expression “late bloomer” didn’t come from nowhere. So I’m on a quest to find the perfect book. If you’ve got a suggestion, leave it in comments.