This is the first book in the I can Help series called the Vegetable Garden by The Dragon Bug Sisters (love the pen name), it's a step reader so it is prefect for teaching young kids to read but it also plants the seed that everyone can help "no matter how small". The two main characters, Edmund and Shantya, tackle an unfortunate common problem we have-not only in the book but in every neighborhood-hunger. It's not the typical lets go door to door and collect nonperishables, rather the characters choose to grow a vegetable garden, on the porch! Yup, the porch, not every garden that makes a difference needs to be 1 acre, but as this book points out anyone can do it by planting vegetables into pots. I found it interesting because the author introduces such a common problem and gives a realistic way of solving it without going over the child's head and placing and unfair amount of weight on his or her shoulders.
As an author myself, I can see how the I Can Help Series could take small "child-like" steps in introducing problems of the real world and having their characters solve them. I can see how this could inspire kids at an early age to get up and do, not just expect that someone else will do it or worse dismiss it and say "not my problem". So as for the step reader I find it 5-stars because it was well written, with good flow, and inspiring.
A side note about the authors: They are pretty much kids themselves, Chianna Bug at age 14 and Kaileah Pendragon at age 17. It pretty nice to see young blood with ink in their veins.
