New in Paperback! Available March 25, 2025

One Little Lot
The 1-2-3s of an Urban Garden

By: Diane C. Mullen / Illustrated by: Oriol Vidal

One little lot sits abandoned in the hustle and bustle . . .

Count the ways this urban community unites to clean up one abandoned little lot and transform it into a thriving community garden. It all starts with two helping hands, a visitor who sees potential and gets people together to take action. As the garden grows, neighbors and strangers become friends, eventually sharing in a special feast with their harvest bounty.

If you like this book, youll enjoy these:
Hot Pot Night
Fresh-Picked Poetry
Old Manhattan Has Some Farms
The Ugly Vegetables

[TABS]

Look Inside

Author & Illustrator

Diane C. Mullen, author

Diane C. Mullen is the author of the novel Tagged. One Little Lot is her first picture book and is loosely based on her life in the bustling city of Minneapolis, where she shares in a community garden with her neighbors. Diane also works at the renowned Walker Art Center.

Read more about Diane.

Oriol Vidal, illustrator

Oriol Vidal is an illustrator of many books for children, including the Time Jumpers and Hello Genius series. He is also a storyboard artist. Oriol lives in Barcelona, Spain.

Read more about Oriol.

Awards & Honors

• Coming soon!

Editorial Reviews

School Library Journal

What to do with an abandoned city lot full of discarded trash and a group of sad honeybees? It takes a visitor with two helping hands and a great imagination to begin the process. Its not long before a diverse group of adults, teens, and children are working side by side. They bag up trash, paint over graffiti, and build planter boxes. They plant seeds, care for the vegetables and, most importantly, become friends. Every now and then readers see the honeybees keeping an eye on the groups progress. Young children will see many people collaborating to create something beautiful. Planting and composting are just a few of the many teachable moments in this story. The illustrations are bright and fun, with faces full of expression. Its refreshing to read a story where people are able to put aside their differences and unite to complete a goal that everyone can take pride in and share. And the bees? They, too, are happy once they have plants to pollinate. In back pages, Mullen explains the necessity of honeybees and gives steps to make a bee-friendly garden. VERDICT By counting one through ten, children will discover how a community garden is built and see neighbors come together to take part in a special feast. This informative title highlights many positive themes. A recommended purchase for all library collections.

Kirkus Reviews

One empty lot needs two helping hands, three days of cleanup, and so on to become a community garden full of delicious!

In, mostly, aerial or elevated views, Vidals bright, painted illustrations track the lots transformation from a (tidy-looking, admittedly) dumping ground behind a rusty chain-link fence. Echoing the multiethnic and multiracial nature of the group of neighbors who gather to do the work (white-presenting figures are in the minority), the eventual crops include bok choy, collard greens, and kittley along with beans, bell peppers, and cherry tomatoesall of which end up incorporated in the climactic spread into a community dinner spread out on tables among the planting boxes. Typically of such garden-themed picture-book tributes, the spirit of community and joy at the eventual bounty elbow out any real acknowledgement of the necessary sweat equity (theres not even a glancing reference to weeding here, for instance) or the sense of an entire seasons passing between planting and harvest. Also, as that public feast is created by considerably more than Ten newfound friends, the counting is just a conceit. Mullen closes with notes on the actual garden in Minneapolis that inspired her and on making gardens bee-friendly.

It breaks no new ground, but even the worms are smiling.

Publishers Weekly

Inspired by the Soo Line Community Garden in Minneapolis, where Mullen has gardened for years, her debut employs a counting framing device paired with a refrain of hungry honeybees buzz… to share a community gardens origin story. A chance visit by passersby (two helping hands) galvanizes a neighborhood into cleaning up one little abandoned lot. Step by step, the group installs raised beds in a straight, lovely line, plants six plentiful seed packets, and harvests nine prized plants, including bok choy, cucumbers, and kittley. One little lot is full of delicious! reads the penultimate spread, which portrays a bustling community dinner. Webcomic-style characters appear diverse, and Vidals intricate digital and mixed-media backdrops and aerial shots, representing the honeybees point of view, offer the small garden a warmly expansive feel. Back matter includes an authors note, facts about honeybees, and steps to improve ones own garden for bees.

Downloadables

Download the CoverDownload the Activity Kit

Details

Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-58089-889-8

Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-62354-614-4

E-book
ISBN: 978-1-63289-752-7

Ages: 3-7
Page count: 32
11 x 8 1/2

[/TABS]