ALA Booklist (Wed Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2017)

This picture book beautifully blends effortless rhyming text with soft-hued mixed-media illustrations to encourage young gardeners to start growing something ywhere. Questions are built into the narrative and guide very young audiences through various steps: "Where can you plant your anywhere farm?" "What can you plant?" "Who might come to visit?" "What do you need?" Readers are informed that all they need is some dirt, sunshine, water, one farmer, and one tiny seed to begin. Empty lots are suggested as potential gardens, but so are an imaginative array of more manageable sites: crates on porches, windowsill boxes, pots, cups, old boots, and so on. Visitors include bugs and butterflies, along with other possible anywhere farmers. Both text and illustrations address an urban setting, featuring a satisfying mix of neighbors of various ages and ethnicities. The ending suggests that all it takes is one farmer and one anywhere farm to encourage other gardeners ich just might result in a community everywhere farm. A great read-aloud for aspiring gardeners and farmers.

Horn Book (Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2017)

Root's upbeat rhyming text details all the places to grow things. Then it suggests what one might plant and who might come to visit one's "anywhere farm." Karas's mixed-media illustrations first focus on one little girl with a single plant but eventually include a whole diverse neighborhood transforming a barren urban space into a lush, flourishing garden. Inspiring and empowering; friendly and inviting.

Kirkus Reviews

Several inner-city children work together to plant seeds and cultivate their own gardens, transforming their little "anywhere farms" into a lush, green community garden covering a vacant city lot. A pink-cheeked little girl in overalls receives a single seed from a helpful tan-skinned neighbor on the title page, and she then inspires a flurry of gardening in her neighborhood with children and adults of different ethnicities joining in, including a white boy who uses a wheelchair. The bouncy, rhyming text conveys the basic requirements of growing plants from seeds as well as suggesting a wide variety of unusual containers for growing plants. Several leading questions about the plant growth cycle are interspersed within the story, set in large type on full pages that show a seed gradually sprouting and growing into a huge sunflower on the final, wordless page. The joyful text makes growing flowers and vegetables seem easy, showing plants spilling out of alternative containers as well as more traditional raised beds and the concluding, large garden plot. The text focuses on the titular concept of an "anywhere farm," without differentiating between farms and gardens, but this conceit is part of the amusing, rollicking tone. Detailed, soft-focus illustrations in mixed media use an autumnal palette of muted green, peach, and tan that don't quite match the buoyant flavor of the cheerful text. This pleasant look at gardening in a city setting reflects a growing trend. (Picture book. 4-7)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Even children who live in dense urban environments can become small-scale farmers; all they need, Root (One North Star) explains, is -soil and sunshine,/ some water, a seed.- A neglected alley is the setting several children choose to start their planting efforts, and Root-s upbeat verse offers playful guidance to readers, using questions (-Where can you plant your anywhere farm?-) and rhyming responses (-An old empty lot/ makes a good growing plot./ But a pan or a bucket,/ a pot or a shoe,/ a bin or a tin/ or a window will do.- Karas-s (A Hat for Mrs. Goldman) smudgy mixed-media art warmly shows a community coming together as citizens young and old join in, building to the unveiling of a neighborhood garden/market. It-s a cheery celebration of community and the hands-on joys of gardening. Ages 2-5. Illustrator-s agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Mar.)

School Library Journal (Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 CST 2017)

PreS-Gr 1 "You can grow your own farm anywhere" is the empowering message of this inclusive picture book. All you need are soil, sun, water, and a seed. You can plant a farm in an empty lot, a pot, a box, or even a shoe. You can share your seeds with others to spread the food and fun. With cheerful rhyming text and illustrations depicting a diverse group of young farmers, including wheelchair users, this book is sure to find a place in group storytimes as well as in the laps of parents. The text is educational without being dry. Children will get a brief introduction to plantswhat a seed needs to grow, what kinds of plants grow from seeds, and what kinds of creatures, such as butterflies and bees, visit them. The text addresses the five W'swho, what, when, where, and why—in a jaunty manner. The mixed-media illustrations include a satisfying amount of detail while retaining a child-friendly sketchiness. The neighborhood scenes add to the sense of community-building reinforced here. VERDICT This must-have picture book will be especially beneficial for school units on plants and seeds and for library storytimes with a spring or gardening theme.— Suzanne LaPierre, Fairfax County Public Library, VA