After a beloved, elderly neighbor is hospitalized with a stroke, the Vanderbeeker children decide to help his recovery by cleaning up an overgrown lot by a nearby church and secretly planting a garden behind its locked gate. Though there's little money for tools or plants, with plenty of good will and hard work, their project gradually takes shape. An underhanded deal to sell the property could mean the end of the garden, but these resourceful kids are not without allies, if only they will act in time. Set in contemporary Harlem, this sequel to The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street (2017) includes a large cast of memorable characters, old and new, each with a different role to play. Glaser is at her best in the interplay of well-developed personalities and the entertaining dialogue among the children, their friends, and their elders. Throughout the book, charming black-and-white drawings decorate chapter headings and illustrate the settings and details related to the story. An amusing, heartening chapter book.--Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2018 Booklist

Four siblings and their neighbors come together to prevail over gentrification.The Vanderbeeker children live in Harlem, and one of their beloved neighbors, the elderly Mr. Jeet, has just suffered a second stroke and landed in the hospital. Distraught, the children decide to turn their grief into something beautiful to welcome Mr. Jeet home with, in hopes that it will also bring some joy to Mr. Beiderman, a crotchety neighbor still grieving his wife's and daughter's deaths six years ago. Their project: a garden. They have 17 days to turn a dirty, abandoned church lot into an oasis, but the father of brother Oliver's sworn enemy and a mysterious real estate developer together present an obstacle. Many pieces must fall into place and many people must band together to make the Vanderbeekers' dream a reality in under three weeks. This companion novel to The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street (2017) stands on its own for readers who haven't encountered the first book. The plot and endearing (and diverse) characters are reminiscent of the classics from the 1940s and 1950s but with refreshing and realistic attention to socio-economics at work. The Vanderbeeker kids are biracial; Mama has "straight black hair" and Papa's is "big and unruly," with the kids "a surprising blend," though all different one to the other.Perfect for individual reading while tucked away in a treehouse or as a family read-aloud. (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

We catch up with the biracial family from The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street (rev. 11/17) in summertime. While nine-year-old Oliver complains of boredom and almost-thirteen-year-old Jessie mopes about missing her twin, Isa, away at music camp, seven-year-old Hyacinth and five-year-old Laney are content to spend more time with their de facto extended family: elderly neighbors Mr. Jeet and Miss Josie and their previously grouchy landlord, Mr. Beiderman. At first Miss Josies suggestion that they turn an abandoned lot next to their church into a community garden is scoffed atuntil a medical emergency sends Mr. Jeet to the hospital and the children decide to make the garden as a surprise for him when he comes home. As in the first book, there are individual struggles, too; for instance, Oliver must reconsider a formerly unkind classmate who wants in on the project, and Mr. Beiderman is working to overcome his grief-induced agoraphobia. While mentions of cellphones and Minecraft set the book solidly in the present, the independence of the children (their father easily accepts that they are off to the park each day) and general goodness and support of their Harlem community provide a timeless sensibility. monica edinger (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.