Mr Goethe's Garden Author:Diana Cohn "To know someone here and there who thinks and feels with us, and though distant is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden" (Goethe). Mr. Goethes Garden is the story of the friendship between an inquisitive young girl and her elderly neighbor, the world-famous playwright, artist and natural scientist Johann... more » von Goethe. Set in the 1830s, the girl visits Mr. Goethe in his well-tended garden, where she is taught to draw and to look at the world of nature in a very special way. "Like friends, plants tell you their secrets only when they know you care. Just practice listening with your eyes, and one day when you least expect it, you will see with your heart and be swept up into natures dance" (Goethe). Set in the 1830s, this book was inspired by Goethes life and his botanical treatise "The Metamorphosis of the Plant." It contains exquisite, sensitive illustrations and elegant text that reveal the intricate wonders of the plant kingdom. As the bonds of friendship between the girl and her wise, kindly neighbor grow stronger, young readers experience with her a new way of seeing the natural cycle of the plantfrom seed to flower to fruit and to seed again.« less