The Maybe Garden

``She has an immaculate garden, my mother.'' With these words a boy steps out beyond the neat, quiet and predictable rows of his mother's garden into fanciful notions of his own plot. When mother suggests that he begin with the usual avocado pit that will grow into a tree, her son responds, ``Maybe I will. Maybe I will plant an apple tree and tie balloons to all the apples so when they are ripe they will fall softly to the ground.'' To each of the ensuing expert-to-beginner recommendations, his imagination answers with gardens springing from childlike enchantment. In the end, the expert gains some of the beginner's vision and plans her own ``maybe garden.'' Burke-Weiner's transparent, unself-conscious text and Spillman's saturated oil pastel illustrations--though verging on the garish--appear to grow from a single seed. This is a universal story of the power of creativity to infuse serious knowledge with life. Ages 6-10. (May)