WASHINGTON–First Lady Michelle Obama’s book about her garden will be titled American Grown: How the White House Kitchen Garden Inspires Families, Schools, and Communities and will be published in April, I’m told. The cover of the book features Mrs. Obama in her garden, in front of a trestle of beans holding a basketful of produce grown on the South Lawn of the White House.
The garden, in its third year, quickly became a signature project for Mrs. Obama, who has said she found herself answering questions about her crops in her global travels. The success of the message of the garden–healthy eating–coupled with exercise–paved the way for Mrs. Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign against childhood obesity, launched on Feb. 9, 2010.
The book project was announced last March, on the day of the spring, 2011 planting and is expected to reflect a year in the garden–which has plantings each season–even hoop houses in the winter. The book will be published in print and digital editions by Crown Publishers, an imprint of Random House, Inc.’s Crown Publishing Group. Mrs. Obama will donate all earnings from the book to charity.
Random said in a statement, “Through telling the story of the White House kitchen garden, Mrs. Obama will explore in American Grown how increased access to healthy, affordable food can promote better eating habits and improve health of families and communities across America. Mrs. Obama will describe how her daughters Sasha and Malia were catalysts for change in her own family’s eating behavior, which inspired Mrs. Obama to plant an edible garden on the South Lawn – the first since Eleanor Roosevelt’s “Victory Garden” planted during World War II. The book will be inspirational and instructive and will provide ideas and resources for readers to get involved in the movement to create community, school, and urban gardens, support local farmers’ markets, and make small lifestyle changes to achieve big health results.”
I asked about Mrs. Obama taking a tour to publicize the book and was told by Random House spokesman David Drake, “details of the book launch will be forthcoming a little closer to publication date.”
