The Summer My Father Was Ten - Softcover

Brisson, Pat

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1563978296 ISBN 13: 9781563978296

Publisher: Astra Young Readers, 1999

Synopsis

Every year my father and I plant a garden. Tomatoes, peppers, onions, marigold, and zinnias grow in neat, straight rows...and every spring my father tells me about Mr. Bellavista and the summer my father was ten. -From the book. That was the summer the boy lost a baseball under a tomato plant in Mr. Bellavista's garden. And someone tossed a tomato back instead of the baseball. A lively battle took place, which seemed like great fun at the time, but in the end Mr. Bellavista's garden had been destroyed. In a touching story of one boy's efforts to make amends, we see the rebuilding of a garden and the forming of a relationship across generations. With luminous, beautifully detailed watercolors, the artist has captured both the sadness and the quiet joy woven throughout the tale.

About this title

About the Author:

Pat Brisson is the author of Benny's Pennies, the Kate books, Hot Fudge Hero, and Wanda's Roses, an American Bookseller "Pick of the Lists."

Andrea Shine is the illustrator of Big Band Sound and The Faraway Drawer, both by Harriett Diller. She lives in Southampton, New York.

From Booklist:

Ages 4^-8. Growing a garden is fact and metaphor in this profoundly moving cross-generational story with a neighborhood drama that children will relate to and exquisite watercolors that celebrate renewal and connection. A young girl tells how every year she and her father plant a garden together, and every year he tells her the story of the summer he was 10 when he led his mates in vandalizing the garden of his lonely, old Italian neighbor, Mr. Bellavista ("Spaghetti Man" the kids call him). The damage isn't deliberate; their baseball lands in the plants, and suddenly the boys are having a glorious time splattering tomatoes and peppers and tearing things up. Afterwards, Mr. Bellavista says only one word, "Why?" Next year, he doesn't plant anything. The guilt-stricken boy apologizes, and together, he and Mr. Bellavista clear, dig, plant, and grow things. Until he dies, the solitary immigrant is friends with the boy's small family. No messages are spelled out. As in Shine's illustrations for Diller's Big Band Sound (1997), the large double-page spreads of people and neighborhood burst with light and movement. The personal narrative voice, the heartfelt characters, and the daily gardening work--weeding, watering, watching--are celebrated in the gorgeously detailed pictures that show how a garden transforms a vacant lot. Hazel Rochman

About this edition

• Publisher: Astra Young Readers
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1563978296
• ISBN 13: 9781563978296
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Shine Andrea