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
