Grandmother's Garden - Hardcover

Archambault, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0382396529 ISBN 13: 9780382396526

Publisher: Silver Pr, 1996

Synopsis

Using the image of the Earth as a garden turning around the sun and affirming that, with a bit of sunshine, rain, and a lot of love, there is room for everyone to bloom, a story-poem celebrates the magnificence and commonality of life in all its diversity.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 2-In this didactic story told in verse, people are likened to flowers in Grandmother's garden. "Different colors, different faces...reaching for the sun." The imagery is confusing: "Earth is a garden" leads one to see Grandmother as a personification of God, but later she is identified as Grandma Rose, the relative of the narrator. There is a recurring awkward line: "Till your fingers through the soil 'til the time stands still." After the "til(l)s" are sorted out, what does this mean? And how does it contribute to the theme of blooming diversity? The stippled illustrations show sweet, dreamy faces of children from many lands tending oversized blossoms against a blurry green background. The vague and wispy religiosity of this book contains ingredients of multiculturalism, but they are mixed together in such an odd way that many children may be uncomfortably confused.
Carolyn Jenks, First Parish Unitarian Church, Portland, ME
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Grandmother's Garden ($13.95; PLB $15.95; book & cassette $19.95; Aug. 1996; 32 pp.; 0-382-39653-7; PLB 0-382-39652-9; book & cassette 0-382-39664-2): In an extended poetic metaphor, Archambault (The Birth of the Whale, p. 222, etc.) compares the earth to Grandmother Rose's garden, where all flowers grow together. ``Different colors, different faces, different names/Underneath our skin, we are all the same./We are flowering faces reaching for the sun./In Grandmother's garden, we are all one./In Grandmother's garden, we are all one.'' These words seem to belong to a song, and here are sunnily set to Col¢n's illustrations, created in his now-trademark style. Soft-hued, rainbow-colored scenes have been given a texture like scratched-out fingerprints. Sculpted, ethnically diverse boys and girls are pictured working in a flower garden, bathed in sunlight. A warm, optimistic work. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Silver Pr
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0382396529
• ISBN 13: 9780382396526
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Colon Raul