The Gardener’s Surprise is a unique, beautiful story about one man’s passion for flowers and staying true to yourself.
Andrew is a m
echanic repairing old freight trains and not making a lot of money. He and his family live in a tiny house where his love of gardening has filled that tiny home with beautiful flowers. One day, Andrew is offered a new job that pays much better and will provide him a new home and enough land to plant a large garden. It sounds wonderful, but this new job is full of surprises.
I love the idea behind this story, but I’m struggling with it too. The author has built a story that finds Andrew working at a place he’s opposed to and doing something about it. In this case, SPOILER AHEAD: instead of loading bombs on to war planes at his new job, he fills them with flower seeds to spread his collection in the countries far away that had declared war on each other. A nice concept, but I think it might lead to some unwanted questions–even from the youngest age group. No one wants war; but neither do we want war planes loaded with flower seeds if someone is in danger. I do believe, however, that the focus of staying true to your beliefs is an important one.
The pastel illustrations by Sonja Wimmer are stunning. I will definitely be on the lookout for more of her work. Combined with the lovely story, it’s an eye-catching and special book.
Rating: :) :) :) :)
Age Range: 5 and up
Grade Level: Kindergarten and up
Hardcover: 24 pages
Publisher: Cuento de Luz (May 13, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 8415784600
ISBN-13: 978-8415784609
The Word Collector
By Sonja Wimmer
Translated by Jon Brokenbrow
Cuento de Luz
$14.95
ISBN: 978-8415241348
Ages 4-8
On shelves now
What is the ultimate goal of the picture book import? When someone takes the time to bring over and translate a work for children, they’re expecting that book to be able to say something universal. They want the book to be enjoyable to child readers regardless of nationality, which, when you sit down and think about it, is a pretty lofty goal. Yet this year I’ve been seeing some absolutely amazing translations in America for kids. From the Colombian Jimmy the Greatest to the Norwegian John Jensen Feels Different to the French My Dad Is Big and Strong, But . . . this has been an amazing year for international children’s literature. Now Spain enters the ring with La Coleccionista de Palabras or The Word Collector. A heady infusion of striking images and playful content, author/illustrator Sonja Wimmer brings us a fantastical tale that has something to say to us today, yesterday, and tomorrow as well.
What do you collect? Coins? Stamps? Stickers? Have you ever considered collecting words? Luna, the heroine of this little tale, does exactly that and the job fills her days. Whether they’re magic words or delicious words or humble words, pretty much if they are words she is interested. The trouble only comes the day that Luna reels in her nets to find just a paltry smattering of words, hardly enough to satisfy. It seems the people of the word just aren’t using the beautiful words out there anymore. So what’s a girl to do when the world grows forgetful? She packs her suitcase with every word in her arsenal and sets off to right a great wrong, that’s what.
This is not a book for lazy people. It demands that you work at it. You can’t just sit back and have the text come to you as you flip through the pages. Some spreads seem fairly straightforward with the words traveling in a single straight line. Other times I felt like I was reading Bob Raczka’s Lemonade again, picking out the words and sentences where I could find them. Your first indication that this isn’t the usual fare comes on the fourth or fifth pages of the story. After reading that there was a girl named Luna who lived in the sky we encounter this luminous (most of the pages are luminous, by the way) image of a red haired child Madonna of sorts staring into a glass container of softly glowing letters like a kid with a firefly jar. When I first encountered
By Luisa LaFleur, The Children’s Book Review
Published: April 1, 2012
By Sonja Wimmer
Reading level: Ages 5 and up
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Cuento de Luz SL (English edition: April 1, 2012)(Spanish edition: September 1, 2011)
What to expect: Fantasy, Otherwordly, Adverture
In The Word Collector, Sonja Wimmer playfully weaves an intricate tale of words as objects, to be collected and saved and treasured. The Word Collector loves words, how they sound, how they look, the feelings they evoke–so she collects them. But then a curious thing happens—and people begin to forget their words and the emotions that they represent. The Word Collector has a job to do! Lovingly illustrated with vivid colors and precious details, The Word Collector is available in English and in Spanish editions.
Add these books to your collection: The Word Collector and La coleccionista de palabras
©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.
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echanic repairing old freight trains and not making a lot of money. He and his family live in a tiny house where his love of gardening has filled that tiny home with beautiful flowers. One day, Andrew is offered a new job that pays much better and will provide him a new home and enough land to plant a large garden. It sounds wonderful, but this new job is full of surprises.
