Many of us are so busy, so wrapped up our lives, that we don't see the little gifts that life has to offer. We are so focused on ourselves and what we are doing that we don't take the time to connect with people we don't know. Why should we bother?
In today's picture book, which has won several awards over the last few weeks, we see how precious the little gifts are, and how vital it is to be aware of the people, and the animals, around us. The connections that we make with these individuals is important. This book is beautiful to look at, and its message will appeal to readers of all ages.
Sidewalk Flowers
In today's picture book, which has won several awards over the last few weeks, we see how precious the little gifts are, and how vital it is to be aware of the people, and the animals, around us. The connections that we make with these individuals is important. This book is beautiful to look at, and its message will appeal to readers of all ages.
Sidewalk Flowers
Jon Arno Lawson
Illustrated by Sydney Smith
Picture Book
For ages 5 and up
Groundwood Books, 2015, 978-1-55498-431-2
One day a father and his little daughter are walking home
after doing the shopping. As they walk down the busy sidewalks in the city, the
little girl sees a small flowering plant that is growing at the base of a pole.
She picks one of the plant’s yellow flowers and then on she and her father
walk.
Further along
she sees another flower, a purple one this time, growing out of a wall and she
picks that. Near a bus stop there is a second yellow flower, which the little
girl gathers up as her father talks on his cell phone. A little later the girl
sees a flower that is growing near a stone lion and another pushing its way
through a crack in the sidewalk.
The father and
his daughter, who is now holding a bouquet of flowers, then walk into the park.
The girl sees the body of a little bird lying in the path and she carefully places
some of her precious flowers on the bird, her tribute to the life that was
lost. She tucks flowers into the shoes of a homeless man who is sleeping on a
bench, and places some under the collar of a dog who wants to be friends. With
care the little girl leaves little gifts of flowers in her wake as she and her
father make their way home.
This incredibly
special wordless picture book explores the way in which accidental flowers,
flowers some people even consider weeds, can bring color and brightness to a
city world. What is perhaps even more powerful is the way in which the little
girl gives the flowers she picks to others. Some of the recipients of these
gifts may not even notice the flowers, but their lives are brightened by them
all the same. The world we see in the story is made better because the kind
little girl choses to give things she loves to others.
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