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Diana's White House Garden


Title: Diana's White House Garden
Genre: Historical Fiction
Author: Elisa Carbone
Major Awards: None
Age Group: Kindergarten-2nd grade

 This is the story of Diana Hopkins who lived with her father, Harry Hopkins, the chief advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the White House. When the United States was at war, President Roosevelt told his staff that everyone needed to do their part in order to win the war. Diana knew this included her, so she started brainstorming ways to help. She thought of being a spy, but this ended up getting her in trouble with the White House workers. She thought she could be a city official, but a sign she made offended her father. She put pins in satin chairs at the White House, thinking these would defeat the enemies that President Roosevelt talked about. This only got Diana in more trouble, and injured people in the process. One day, President Roosevelt said that he wanted everyone to start growing their own food in their backyards. This gave Diana an idea: she could be in charge of growing the food in the White House garden, which would be sent to the troops. Roosevelt called the garden at the White House, the Victory Garden. With Mrs. Roosevelt's help, Diana started the garden. In the end, Diana made national headlines for her work in the Victory Garden, and inspired people around the world to start their own gardens.

 I absolutely loved this story, and it would definitely be a fun one to have in my classroom! It is a light-hearted story about a young girl trying to navigate life in the White House and it is a lot of fun. Diana gets herself stuck in some sticky situations, and I think young students would get a kick out of her antics! 

 I think that Kindergarten through second grade would be the best ages for this story. It is a simple and easy-to-read story that has a lot of humor in it. It is a longer story, but the words are short and easy to sound out. I think it would be a great story for a read aloud, as well! 

 In my classroom, we could discuss ways that we could help America during a war, or even just in everyday life. We could also plant our own gardens and see if we would have as much luck as Diana did with hers!



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