The Vegetable Museum by Michelle Mulder

Chloe and her father move across Canada from Montreal to Victoria the capital of Vancouver Island leaving Chloe's mother behind. Uli, Chloe's grandfather lives across the street from their apartment building. He has an amazing garden but following a stoke he needs help tending his special plants. Shortly after Chloe and her father arrive, Chloe begins to help Uli and as they work together he shares stories of these plants and more importantly of their seeds which he has been collecting and saving for decades. One of the very special things in the garden is a huge apple tree. Uli tells Chloe when he and his mother fled Germany during the war Uli had one apple which he ate but he then kept the seeds. Later he grew the tree in his uncle's garden and then when he moved to Victoria he bought the tree or  a cutting from the tree with him.

There are some strange things about this neighbourhood. Slater is a boy who goes to Chloe's school. He is a bully and his father seems very aggressive. The relationship between Uli and Chloe's father is strained and dysfunctional but no one wants to tell her why.  Luckily, Chloe does find a true friend in Nikko who lives in the same apartment building. Added to the mix are the issues with Chloe's parents and the possibility of divorce. Then everything comes crashing down when Uli suddenly dies. 

Blurb: Thirteen-year-old Chloë left her whole life back in Montreal, including her mom and her best friend. Now she's stuck in Victoria with her dad and her estranged grandfather, Uli, who recently had a stroke. When Chloë agrees to help Uli look after his garden, she's determined to find out why he and her dad didn't speak to each other for years. For decades Uli has collected seeds from people in the community, distinct varieties that have been handed down through generations. The result is a garden full of unusual and endangered produce, from pink broccoli to blue kale to purple potatoes. But Chloë learns that the garden will soon be destroyed to make way for a new apartment complex. And the seed collection is missing! Chloë must somehow find a way to save her grandfather's legacy.

There are some tiny fragments of things hiding in this story which I really wanted the author to develop. Uli, Chloe's grandfather, collects seeds. These are rare seeds which produce heirloom vegetables. He hints at some of the tragic and heroic stories where people saved seeds and then transported them across the world but these stories are not really developed. There are also very complex relationships in this family. Chloe's dad cannot talk to his father Uli because he is carrying a deep hurt from the past and in turn Uli never invites Chloe and her dad to visit inside his house because he is ashamed of his own past. There are two other things which were curious in this story. Chloe digs up a red box and we never discover the contents. Uli plants cherry trees along the street and he explains each will grow different and delicious cherries. I really wanted Chloe to stand in the street and eat some of this special fruit.

Mulder carefully crafts a book about family and vegetables that offers a glimpse into the ways in which gardening can become something more than simply growing plants. The scenes of Chloë and her grandfather are poignant and realistic and might even spark some agricultural interest in middle-graders. Kirkus

The Vegetable Museum also addresses important issues of: divorce, refugees, family relationships, grief, urban development, bullying, friendship, compassion, addiction, sustainability and community. There are powerful lessons about coping with adversity in The Vegetable Museum as Chloë’s father explains, “That garden was where he taught me that even when everything feels too hard to bear, good things can grow.” Canadian Review of Materials

Gardens (and gardening) have long served as therapeutic responses to loss ...  Mulder handles this perceptive psychology subtly and mixes it in with contemporary issues that will appeal to increasingly aware and engaged middle-graders, such as eating healthy, food security, urban gardening, the importance of community, and (Uli’s) cherry tree grafting as a form of public art. The Ormsby Review

There are some things you might be curious about after reading this book. It would be good to find more about heirloom vegetables, seed saver banks, seed libraries, Quaker churches and gardening techniques such as grafting. The author, Michelle Mulder, lives in Victoria on Vancouver Island. This book will be enjoyed by thoughtful readers aged 10+. I knew nothing about this book. I spied it in a bookshop window when I went to pick up a 'click and collect order'.  I really like the cover - do you? It was designed by Julie MacLaughlin who also lives in Victoria.  She did this cover too:

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