Growing a Life

“This is an astonishing book! It will inspire you from the first sentence no matter how long
you’ve been involved in the garden world. Because of Dr. Illène Pevec’s research, I am beginning
to understand what lies beneath our need to grow plants – and that’s after almost 40 years
promoting urban agriculture. Read this book!”

-- Mike Levenston * Executive Director, City Farmer Society, Vancouver, BC *

“Timely, well-written, and easy to read for people interested in urban agriculture, youth
development, and social justice issues. The combination of narrative, personal anecdote, and
more scholarly research presents a convincing case for more programs like the ones in this book.”

-- Jody Beck * Assistant Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Colorado, Denver *

"This book shines a spotlight on youths’ transformational experiences in their urban school
gardens, and uses their own words to clearly illustrate the power of nurturing living things to
change children’s lives for the better—improving their health, their connections to their
communities, and their empathy and care for the Earth."

-- Sharon Danks * founding director, Green Schoolyards America; author, Asphalt to Ecosystems *

"Illène Pevec offers her expertise and insight into the profoundly good effects of youth gardening
programs on the lives of young adults, and her most powerful evidence is in the honest voices of
the teens themselves. This is a terrific book."

-- Richard Louv * author of Last Child in the Woods and Vitamin N *

“This book makes a strong case that well designed gardening programs promote positive youth
development. Exactly how they do this is explained by young people in their own words: words
that amplify the research that Pevec reviews. The eloquence of the adolescents who share their
feeling and experiences in these pages is deeply moving and inspiring.”

-- Louise Chawla * Professor Emerita, Environmental Design Program, University of Colorado *

“Pevec's first person documentation of adolescent lives in transition makes this book a
remarkably inspiring and grounding read. The interviews, collectively, reveal the holistic ways
hands-on learning, mentorship, positive social settings, and a caring relationship with plants can
positively affect young lives. The book serves as a powerful call to action.”

-- Cam Collyer * Executive Director, Programs at Evergre