The Gardener

Title: The Gardener

Author: Sarah Stewart

Illustrator: David Small

Picture book for ages (approximately) 5 and up

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary:

This book tells a story about a little girl, Lydia Grace Finch, who gets sent off to stay with her Uncle Jim during the Great Depression. Her mission becomes getting her uncle to smile and she does this through gardening. It is a Caldecott Honor book.

Opinion:

This is wonderful story written in letter form. You get to see every letter this little girl sends through her journey. She has a passion for gardening and is very good at it. This book is a tale of perseverance and strength. It shows that even in the worst of times there is something good that can be done. It speaks against moping and feeling sorry for oneself and instead focuses on the silver linings in life. It shows that just because someone is poor does not necessarily mean they have a lower quality of life. If anything it shows that people like that are happier as they are better able to find little things every day to make them happy.

The illustrations in this book are just as wonderful. They start on the front cover, which I like, and give the background to the story. Because this book is written in letter form you need the pictures to fully understand and grasp the situation at hand. Without the illustrations you would never know how close this girl is to her grandmother, how optimistic she is, smiling on every page no matter the problems being faced. And most of all, you wouldn’t get to see the amazing way she transforms the building she lives in with only a few packets of seeds.

I would definitely use this book in my classroom, not only on my library shelf, but for all grades in genre studies and author/illustrator studies as well. It sends several messages I want my students to hear loud and clear namely, there is always a silver lining, never take life too seriously, always do your best and help others, and finally, you don’t have to do huge things to make a huge difference.