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Library | Material Type | Item Barcode | Shelf Number | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library | Juvenile Picture Book Hardback | 120791000383969 | J P SHA | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Warren shares a great friendship with Bill, the artist who lives next door. Everything changes, however, when Warren's family moves away. Distance ends their daily talks, but the times they shared continue to affect their lives. In gentle text and sunny illustrations, this is a story of small but meaningful beginnings.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Warren, a young boy, and Bill, his African-American neighbor, share a fast friendship and a keen interest in the man's garden. The first half of the book chronicles the basis for their relationship: weeding, sprinkling and discovering new plants, telling stories, and playing riddle games. But one day, rather abruptly, everything changes; the boy and his family move to another town. The friends miss each other and, as Warren looks down at his dirt yard, he particularly misses the garden. Then he has an idea, and asks Bill to send him some seeds so he can plant his own. This gives Bill an idea for a storybook he'll write and illustrate about friends sharing ``long distance'' gardens. The ink-and-watercolor illustrations are light, sketchy, and airy, a perfect complement to the straightforward, simple text. The layout varies: the double-paged spreads display the garden, Bill's house, and Warren's new home; smaller pictures illustrate other ideas or actions. This happy, warm book, good for story time or one-on-one sharing, will satisfy demands for intergenerational, interracial, gardening, moving, and friendship stories.-Cynthia K. Richey, Mt. Lebanon Public Library, Pittsburgh, PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
When young Warren moves away, he misses his neighbor Bill and the times he helped him in his garden. Then Bill mails Warren some seeds, and they share a garden again. Shannon has created a nice intergenerational friendship, and the colorful pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations are warm and lively. From HORN BOOK 1994, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Warren and his next-door neighbor Bill, who's an illustrator and a gardener, are best friends. The little boy is welcomed as Bill's garden helper--they check out the ``garden zoo'' (``Larkspur rabbits....Monkey faces in the pansies...''), weed, transplant, make a game of escaping from the sprinkler, and tell stories about ``snapping dragons.'' After Warren moves, he sends Bill an imaginative picture of a dragon in a garden--which gives Bill an idea for a new storybook and also elicits a present of seeds from his garden so that Warren and Dad can start their own. The simple, adroitly crafted story is agreeably extended in Björkman's sun-dappled watercolors, where Warren's family happens to be white and Bill is an African American whose garden is a luxuriant mass of flowers. A delightfully fresh variant of the best-friend-moves-away theme. (Picture book. 4-8)
Booklist Review
Ages 4-8. Little Warren can't wait to get to Bill's house, where he often works in the garden with Bill, who's an artist with plants as well as by trade. Sometimes while Bill drinks coffee on the porch or sits inside in his rocking chair, Warren entertains him with a new song he has learned. Sometimes the two play riddle games. Then one day, Warren and his family move away. Both friends feel the hurt, but it isn't long before each finds a way to remember his friend: Warren begins his own garden, and Bill starts a book inspired by the friendship he and Warren shared. The interracial element of the story is evident only through Bjorkman's pictures; the story's intergenera~tional component, however, is rendered in both the affectionate telling and the playful watercolor-and-ink-line artwork. With splashes of bright Easter colors adding a cheerful note, this is a warm, satisfying story about a different kind of friendship, about loss, and about new beginnings. ~--Stephanie Zvirin