Lob by Linda Newbery

(David Fielding, £10.99)

Spring is upon us, Linda Newbery’s latest book Lob celebrates the miracle of growth and rejuvenation (six-plus).

Lucy is close to her grandfather, who teaches her to care for the garden. She is a grand little helper.

They have another secret helper, Lob, the green man, who weeds, fills watering cans and cleans grandpa’s tools, seldom seen and only fleetingly by a few select people. Lucy is lucky enough, one day, to catch a glimpse of him.

Sadly there comes a time when Lucy and her parents no longer visit grandpa and go back to the town.

Here she pines for him in their vegetable patch where Lob, too. is no longer needed.

He sets off along the highways and byways sprinkling seeds, secretly working in gardens, fields and allotments, in his search for someone special who will welcome him.

Meanwhile, without grandpa, Lucy tries to fill the emptiness in her life.

As always, Newbery holds the reader with her endearing characters, evocative scene-setting and poetic language.

Into this seemingly simple story comes the universal and timeless figure of Lob, better known as the Green Man, whose likeness can be in found in carvings in churches, gardens and on walls for those who have eyes to see him.

Pam Smy wisely leaves him to our imagination in her thoughtful and delicate illustrations.

An uplifting, enchanting book that will encourage both young and old to enjoy the pleasures of gardening and perhaps see the flash of a hidden helper.