The Plant Sitter By Gene Zion

This weekend my son caught me in the middle of a something he doesn't often see me do. I was planting something! I was actually getting my hands dirty, trying to transplant a decorative cactus into a pot on our patio.

My four-year-old thought this was great and he immediately started plotting. "We should have plants in the whole house," Ike said. "So many that you can't even walk around. It will be like that book."

That book?

"That book with the boy and the plants."

Ah, The Plant Sitter, a 1959 book by Gene Zion and Margaret Bloy Graham. You may know their more popular book, a 1956 delight entitled Harry the Dirty Dog.

Harry the Dirty Dog, as of today, is still a top-20,000 book on Amazon. Not bad for a book that's 51 years old. But The Plant Sitter is out of print. You have to find one from, basically, an antique dealer. We have a copy only because of a friend who scours Goodwill shops for children's books and then passes on good ones to family's with kids.

Thanks to our friend, my son has a lot of books. So it speaks well of this one that it is remembered and referred to, even when it hasn't been read in months. My husband was grilling our holiday meal. A sandbox and a new bike beckoned. But my son was running inside to search his overstuffed bookshelf for a book that was even older than his parents. "We need to read that book again," Ike said. "It might have a little recipe at the end to show us how to do the same thing."

He found it and we sat on the patio and re-read the story of a boy who decides to spend his summer earning money by caring for vacationing neighbor's plants. He does such a good job that the plants thrive in his home and soon every room in the house is filled with plants. When his father wants to turn the channel on the television, he has to fight his way through. It is almost like a jungle. ("I guess he didn't have a remote," Ike said.)

Here's why this book is great:

1) It shows a boy in a nurturing role. He's not fighting, getting into trouble or exploring. He's gently caring for living things. It's a nice change from most books.

2) It shows a boy turning to books for answers. When his plants threaten to take over the house, he finds a book at the library called: "Are your plants too big?" It helps him solve his problem.

There was no "recipe" at the end, but it did force me to vow to go to the library to find a book about gardening for kids.

What more could you want from one old picture book?

I love Harry the Dirty Dog. Who doesn't? But I think I like The Plant Sitter even more.