American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America

Mrs. Obama will describe how Sasha and Malia were the catalysts for change for their family's eating behavior which inspired her national initiative to address childhood obesity and resulted in the idea to plant a vegetable garden on the South Lawn, the first since Eleanor Roosevelt's Victory Garden. American Grown will be inspirational and instructive and will provide ideas for readers to get involved and join the movement to create community gardens, support local farmers markets, create school gardens, and start urban gardens, as well as other ways that they can make small changes to achieve big results and create healthy eating habits.

Since entering the White House, Mrs. Obama has emerged as a passionate advocate for healthful eating and exercise.  In February 2010 she launched Let's Move!, a nationwide initiative to address the epidemic of childhood obesity by empowering parents and caregivers with information, improving food quality in schools, increasing access to healthy, affordable food, and encouraging increased physical activity.

American Grown will speak to these issues which Mrs. Obama has strongly advocated for, in particular, making better food choices. It will also include practical ideas, recipes, and resources as well as tips on how to begin a garden of any size, anywhere and how to support local farmers' markets.

Filled with gorgeous full-color photography, American Grown will include stunning photos of the White House garden and Mrs. Obama throughout the seasons, as well as other community and school gardens from around the country.

Now, in her first-ever book, American Grown, Mrs. Obama invites you inside the White House Kitchen Garden and shares its inspiring story, from the first planting to the latest harvest.  Hear about her worries as a novice gardener – would the new plants even grow? Learn about her struggles and her joys as lettuce, corn, tomatoes, collards and kale, sweet potatoes and rhubarb flourished in the freshly tilled soil.  Get an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at every season of the garden’s growth, with striking original photographs that bring its story to life.  Try the unique recipes created by White House chefs and made with ingredients just picked from the White House garden.  And learn from the White House Garden team about how you can help plant your own backyard, school or community garden. 

Mrs. Obama’s journey continues across the nation as she shares the stories of other gardens that have moved and inspired her: Houston office workers who make the sidewalk bloom; a New York City School that created a scented garden for the visually impaired; a North Carolina garden that devotes its entire harvest to those in need; and other stories of communities that are transforming the lives and health of their citizens.  

In American Grown, Mrs. Obama tells the story of the White House Kitchen Garden, celebrates the bounty of gardens across our nation, and reminds us all of what we can grow together.