Miles is bored, with nothing to do on a nice summer day. His mom encourages him to help their neighbor, who has a broken ankle, by pulling weeds from her garden. Weeding sounds even more boring to Miles, but his mom promises cherry pie and the opportunity to play with the neighbor’s dog, so he goes anyway.

Once he’s at Miss Mary’s house, Miles gets to work on pulling crabgrass. He notices a garden gate and wonders what’s behind it. Miss Mary tells him he can investigate once he’s done weeding. When Miles steps through the gate he finds a magical land, with fairies and amazing flowers and lush greenery. But he also finds a problem. A bog is growing and taking over the land. Miles must investigate, and when he finds the source of the trouble, his fairy friends help him make things right.

Through the Garden Gate by Sharon Rose is a picture book that combines the natural world with a magical one, where fairies fly and trees communicate if you listen closely and gophers work as a team. Illustrations by Erin Brown depict an environment that’s lush and bursting with life and the perfect cool place to hang out on a hot summer day. At the end there’s a description of the plants and animals found in the book; perfect for budding nature lovers to learn about the world around them.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book for review.