Gardener: (Caldecott Honor Book)

Description: Lydia Grace Finch brings a suitcase full of seeds to the city, where she goes to stay with her Uncle. There she initiates a gradual transformation, bit by bit brightening the shop and bringing smiles to customers' faces with the flowers she grows. But it is in a secret place that Lydia Grace works on her masterpiece--an ambitious rooftop garden--which she hopes will make even Uncle Jim smile. Full color. 1998 Caldecott Honor Book. 1998 ABBY Award nominee.

Brief description: Husband and wife duo Sarah Stewart and David Small have worked together on several picture books, including The Friend, The Money Tree, and The Library. The Gardener is a Caldecott Honor book. Small has also illustrated other books, including the 2001 Caldecott Medal winner So You Want to Be President?, by Judith St. George. Stewart and Small live in a historic home on a bend of the St. Joseph River in Michigan.

Review Quotes:

A Caldecott Honor Book
A New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year

"Late in the summer of 1935, Lydia Grace's parents are out of work, and to help make ends meet they send Lydia Grace to live with Uncle Jim, a baker in the city . . . Told entirely through letters, the story radiates her utterly (and convincingly) sunny personality . . . [An] inspiring offering from creative collaborators." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A moving, wonderfully rich illustrated story. It is that rarity, a pictorial delight that in 20 double pages gives more and more of itself each time it's read, and whose silent complexities reveal themselves with continuing pleasure." --The New York Times Book Review