Title: How Our Garden Grows
Author: Saurav Kiran Shrestha, illustrated by Estee Sarsfield
Genre: Contemporary
Publisher: WestWords Children’s Books
Published: 1st September 2026
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 32
Price: $28.95
Synopsis: ‘One day, Lia noticed a seedling poking out from a hedge and drooping onto the footpath. She found a twig to prop it up.’
From Nepalese-Australian writer Saurav Kiran Shrestha and Estee Sarsfield’s whimsical illustrations of Australian suburbia this is the story of how one small act of caring can bring us together, no matter where we’re from, and how neighbours can become a community.
WestWords Children’s Books an imprint of WestWords Ltd
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Lia and Gita have recently moved to Australia from another country, and are trying to find their new community. Lia can’t wait to start a new school, but Gita just wants to go home. One day, they spy a seedling poking out along the footpath.
Lia tends to it, and each time they walk past, someone else has tended to it. Given it something to grow against, weeded around or watered it. Then there’s the boy in the window who sometimes waves, and sometimes doesn’t.
Lia and Gita start wondering how the plant is growing. Is the boy in the window doing something? It turns out, there is a community behind the plant, an unseen one at first.
All because Lia did one small thing and started tending to the plant. And started to create a community garden that will bring everyone together.
This new book from WestWords is beautiful, and is all about community and coming together. One person making a small difference shows everyone that there is something beyond the houses represented in this book. What we see is a quiet street, where nobody ever comes out. Where the community is fractured and separate.
Where we don’t know why things are like this. Whether its fear or being busy, there is a sense that Lia and Gita want to help their community. By creating a community garden, and watching it grow with everyone involved, they grow their community and get to know the people that shape it, that create it.
It is something that we all need. A community we can rely on in a world that is increasingly keeping us apart. In today’s world, it feels like we are losing that community. Losing that connection when the internet was something that we were told would connect us even more than we already were many years ago. In this book, connections without the internet are crucial and these days, what people might be seeking more.
Saurav’s story is gorgeous, his words lovingly complemented by Estee Sarsfield’s lovely illustrations that bring the story to life. The tones are muted, yet they hold life, meaning and joy. This is the second book for each of them.
The words and pictures come together to show how a community can be created and what can bring people together. Sometimes it is the simplest things that work to bring people together.
This was another great book from WestWords celebrating community and diversity.
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