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3rd out of 93 books
—
48 voters
The Gardener
By the author-and-illustrator team of the bestselling The Library
Lydia Grace Finch brings a suitcase full of seeds to the big gray city, where she goes to stay with her Uncle Jim, a cantankerous baker. 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...more
Lydia Grace Finch brings a suitcase full of seeds to the big gray city, where she goes to stay with her Uncle Jim, a cantankerous baker. 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...more
Hardcover, 40 pages
Published
August 30th 1997
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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I loved this story! Sarah Stewart & David Small did an amazing job communicating the story line from before the story began until after the story was over, every page is telling the story!
Set in the 1930's Depression era, we meet a young girl, Lydia Grace Finch, who lives with her Mother, Father & Grandmother in a rural town. Lydia loves gardening - the beauty of her garden is her escape and way of dealing with the difficulties of life around her. With both of her parents being out of w...more
Set in the 1930's Depression era, we meet a young girl, Lydia Grace Finch, who lives with her Mother, Father & Grandmother in a rural town. Lydia loves gardening - the beauty of her garden is her escape and way of dealing with the difficulties of life around her. With both of her parents being out of w...more
This book is about a young girl named Lydia Grace Finch. She lives with her Grandma, Mama, and Papa, but she has to move to another city to live with her Uncle Jim until her parents can get back in business again. Her Uncle Jim is a baker and never smiles very much, but Lydia Grace is sure she will be able to get him to smile. Lydia Grace is very good at growing things, and after awhile at her new home she becomes known as the gardener. She becomes friends with Ed and Emma, who work at her uncle...more
This is a charming, touching story set in the era of the Great Depression. It tells of a little girl named Lydia Grace who is probably between 8-12 yrs old (the book does not specify her age). She lives out in the country with her Grandma, Papa, and Mama and loves to work in the garden with her Grandma. One day, she is told by her Grandma that she will be moving to the city (NYC)to live with her Uncle Jim and work in his bakery to help her family financially and as stated in the book, "until thi...more
3 likes · like · see review
The Gardner
By: Sarah Stewart Illustrations by: David Small
Genre: Historical
Lydia Grace is a young girl who loves to garden. Due to financial difficulties during the Depression, her family sends her to live with her uncle in the city where gardening is difficult. Lydia Grace doesn’t give up hope and soon enough she feels right at home.
Critique:
A. The story is told through letters by Lydia Grace. And she includes the dates for her letters. This allows the reader to know the specific era in whic...more
By: Sarah Stewart Illustrations by: David Small
Genre: Historical
Lydia Grace is a young girl who loves to garden. Due to financial difficulties during the Depression, her family sends her to live with her uncle in the city where gardening is difficult. Lydia Grace doesn’t give up hope and soon enough she feels right at home.
Critique:
A. The story is told through letters by Lydia Grace. And she includes the dates for her letters. This allows the reader to know the specific era in whic...more
This is a lot like The Journey which we read this past week also. Julia doesn't find diary-like stories very enjoyable. This saddens me because this type of story makes up some of my favorite reading material but I won't keep pushing her. If she wants to read another one of these (if there are any, I haven't yet looked) she can tell me.
The pictures are absolutely beautiful and I like that it's so easy for children to understand. They don't have to have knowledge about the Depression to get the s...more
The pictures are absolutely beautiful and I like that it's so easy for children to understand. They don't have to have knowledge about the Depression to get the s...more
Category: picture book
Author: Sarah Stewart
Illustrator: David Small
Title: The Gardener
Publisher: 2000 by Tandem Library (first published August 30th 1997)
ISBN 0613291735 (ISBN13: 9780613291736)
Genre: fiction
Readng level: grade 2/3 and up
Awards: Caldecott Honor (1998)
There is so much to love about this book. It takes place during the depression and when her father loses his job Lydia Grace is forced to move away from her loving immediate family to live with her Uncle Jim in the city. Lydia write...more
Author: Sarah Stewart
Illustrator: David Small
Title: The Gardener
Publisher: 2000 by Tandem Library (first published August 30th 1997)
ISBN 0613291735 (ISBN13: 9780613291736)
Genre: fiction
Readng level: grade 2/3 and up
Awards: Caldecott Honor (1998)
There is so much to love about this book. It takes place during the depression and when her father loses his job Lydia Grace is forced to move away from her loving immediate family to live with her Uncle Jim in the city. Lydia write...more
I would love the chance to step into a David Small illustration. (From this book, or from The Library, or from any other one except The Essential Worldwide Monster Guide. That would be bad.) I adore David Small's illustrations. He's one of my all-time favorites. And pairing him with Sarah Stewart's gentle storytelling seems to highlight the beauty of her language. In The Gardener, young Lydia Grace is sent away from the country to live in the city with her Uncle Jim during her family's more diff...more
I hadn't realized that David Small won a Caldecott Honor in addition to his Caldecott Medal for So You Want to be President? I always love his illustrations, and The Gardener is no exception. As in all good picture books, the illustrations in this tell as much of the story as the text. Make sure you notice all of the illustrations, even those at the beginning and end that don't have accompanying text.
The story is told in letters written by Lydia Grace Finch to family members – first to her Uncl...more
The story is told in letters written by Lydia Grace Finch to family members – first to her Uncl...more
This is my new favorite picture book for me, not the kids!
The story takes place during the depression and is told in beautiful, beatiful illustrations and letters written by a little girl, Lydia Grace, who likes to be called Lydia Grace because her grandmother does. Lydia Grace goes to live with her Uncle Jim in the city until things get better at home (her father is out of work). Not to give too much of the story away I'll just say that about halfway through she writes to tell her family that...more
The story takes place during the depression and is told in beautiful, beatiful illustrations and letters written by a little girl, Lydia Grace, who likes to be called Lydia Grace because her grandmother does. Lydia Grace goes to live with her Uncle Jim in the city until things get better at home (her father is out of work). Not to give too much of the story away I'll just say that about halfway through she writes to tell her family that...more
Feb 10, 2010
Shanna Gonzalez
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
children-04-08
The Great Depression in America was a time of uncertainty and difficulty for many Americans, but its trials also provided opportunities for courage and hope. In this story, Lydia Grace has been invited to stay with her dour uncle while her father looks for work. Uncle Jim is a baker, and Lydia Grace happily learns what she can about baking while working to bring beauty into her uncle's life by planting beautiful flowers in his window boxes and cultivating an elaborate surprise to delight him.
The...more
The...more
This is a delightful, heartwarming book made all the more poignant by the hard economic times we are currently experiencing. The story takes place during the Depression. Lydia Grace is being sent to live with her Uncle Jim in the city because of financial hardships. Told in a series of letters by Lydia Grace (first to Uncle Jim, and then to her family back home) we watch as she leaves behind everything she knows and loves, and heads to the big, unknown city.
Lydia Grace is a gardener, and brings...more
Lydia Grace is a gardener, and brings...more
Feb 22, 2012
Bethany Vines
added it
The Gardener by Sarah Stewart is a story about a young girl that goes to live with her Uncle Jim during a time period when her family was struggling financially. This book was interesting and enjoyable to me because it tells of a young girl who becomes independent and acts bravely when she has to leave her family to go live somewhere else. The book is formatted in a way that she is writing letters home to her family about what she is doing. One theme throughout the book is that "Lydia Grace", th...more
This book is a heart-warming account of how a young girl's positive outlook in difficult times warmed the lives of the people around her. The book is set during the American depression and is thus relatable to modern "credit-crunch" times. It is written in first person narrativbe in the form of letters written by the girl. The letters tell the story of her journey to the city to live with her uncle and her stay in the city, whilst providing insight to the lives of her family members and the stru...more
This magical story captivated my attention from the first page. Lydia Grace is sent to live with ther uncle during the Great Depression, and her story is told through a series of letters written home. Her missions are to make her grouchy uncle smile, as well as nurture her growing green thumb by creating a rooftop garden. The use of letters are a narrative is quite attention getting and helps to give insight into her private thoughts as well. Lydia Grace's cheerful and confident spirit in tumult...more
After reading this book, David Small is one of my favorite illustrators. His most notable book is probably "So You Want to Be President" which won him a Caldecot, and was delightful (see his illustrations of Taft and the bathtub), but President was not as endearing and heartwarming as this lovely story about Lydia Grace and her Uncle Jim.
Set during the Great Depression, "The Gardener" is about a young girl who gets sent to the city to live with her uncle until her father can find another job. In...more
Set during the Great Depression, "The Gardener" is about a young girl who gets sent to the city to live with her uncle until her father can find another job. In...more
The Gardener was a book that I really enjoyed to read. I thought it was different that the story was told in a series of letters from Lydia to her parents. I could relate to Lydia in a way that she kept waiting for her Uncle to smile and I had an uncle that used to intimidate me when I was little. As I grew older I realized that he is just a little stern, but loves me so much more. I think a lot of young readers can relate to Lydia. If not, the situation of her having to leave her home because o...more
The Gardener is both historical fiction and a concept book for writing letters. Set during the Great Depression, young Lydia Grace writes home to her Mama, Papa, and Grandma from the city where she is staying with her Uncle Jim while her parents sort things out in the country. Lydia Grace helps out at her Uncle Jim's bakery, goes to school, and secretly gardens on the roof of the building. Her green thumb becomes well-known, but none more than those closest to her.
There are many good picture bo...more
There are many good picture bo...more
The Gardner follows Mason as he tries to help a girl, who is called The Girl in most of the book, and find out her mysterious origins. Most of the book involves running away from the evil company and then once some answers are given they run back to it and get answers to their big questions. I'm not a big sci-fi reader so I tried to get into this book but I was disappointed, I didn't think the big evil was so evil. I also thought the action was somewhat lackluster and I tend to think sci-fi need...more
Told entirely in letters from the young protagonist Lydia Grace Finch this is a story about finding beauty and comfort in unlikely places and circumstances. Lydia's parents have been hit hard by the Great Depression and have made arrangements to have their daughter live with an uncle until their situation improves. Lydia deals admirably with what seems like a fairly traumatic scenario. She has inherited her grandmother's love of gardening and has made it her mission to make Uncle Joe smile. It's...more
5 likes · like · see review
I adored The Gardener, it is a magnificent book that can teach children to always preserve. I loved Lydia Grace's determination that pushed her to plant a garden and make her Uncle Jim smile. I also admired her patience, she seemed to have so much for a young child. Gardening takes a lot of time, and it was so admirable to see how hard she worked on that roof garden, her love for plants and her family really made me smile.
The pictures in this book are phenomenal as well. I loved how Small put s...more
The pictures in this book are phenomenal as well. I loved how Small put s...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Mar 20, 2012
Anna Keegan
added it
I really enjoyed this book. I found it to be such a sweet story!! It is about a little girl named Emma who has to move to live with her Uncle Jim because her father lost his job. She creates a garden on the apartment roof to surprise Uncle Jim hopefully get him to smile. The story follows her as she adapts to her new life and then eventually gets to move home. The protagonist is such a precious girl who is easy to read about. The illustrations, while simple, really add to the story. The story is...more
After I read this book I did not enjoy it at all. Whenever I think of children's pictures book I think of more pictures and less words. This book required a lot of reading which I know is good for children but I think they should be starting off smaller. I did like how this was kept as a journal. Instead of telling one story that happened all in one day/ night it took place over a period of months. The main character Lydia Finch is working hard to impress her Uncle Jim. She works hard in her gar...more
PICTURE STORYBOOK
The premise for this story is a family around the time of the depression, who sends their little girl, Lydia Grace Finch to live with her uncle who owns a bakery. Lydia has no experience in baking, but loves to garden. When she goes to live with her uncle, she is surprised that he doesn't ever smile, and she takes it upon herself to get him to smile. She begins to plant flowers all around the bakery, and finds a perfect place to plant an entire garden. The ending of the story is...more
The premise for this story is a family around the time of the depression, who sends their little girl, Lydia Grace Finch to live with her uncle who owns a bakery. Lydia has no experience in baking, but loves to garden. When she goes to live with her uncle, she is surprised that he doesn't ever smile, and she takes it upon herself to get him to smile. She begins to plant flowers all around the bakery, and finds a perfect place to plant an entire garden. The ending of the story is...more
Lydia Grace Finch is the main character and already my daughter, Grace, felt a wonderful connection to the story, right from the first page. Lydia moves to the city to stay with her uncle Jim while her Mama, Papa, and Grandma try to find work. Lydia loves planting flowers. Her uncle Jim is a baker who doesn't smile. The book is put together as a series of letters that Lydia writes. Usually I am not so fond of this type of story-telling, as I find it a little more difficult to understand, but in...more
I loved everything about this book. The illustrations are wonderful - the more I looked the more I saw. The story of Lydia Grace is one of courage, enthusiasm and love of her family, gardening and her Uncle Jim. Lots to be learned from this story.
1 like · like · see review
Jun 04, 2009
Kathryn
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Kathryn by:
Chandra, thank you!
Shelves:
childrens-picture-books
Another winner from the husband-wife team of Stewart and Small. The illustrations in this one are what really captivated me, but I appreciated all the letters, too (the story is told entirely of letters) and found it at once a poignant and marvelously hopeful sort of story. It takes place during the depression and shows the all-too-common story of a young girl being sent to stay with distant relatives because the parents cannot afford to keep her with father out of work. Her uncle, a baker, neve...more
So much can be conveyed through the simple literary technique of letter writing. This is apparent in "The Gardener," a beautifully written piece of historical fiction by Sarah Stewart and illustrated by David Small. Through the letter writing of a young girl, Lydia Grace Finch, the reader experiences the historical setting, character, and plot development of the story. The reader is able to learn about Lydia Grace's need to move from her family's farm to her uncle's apartment in the city during...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Cute book wrote by letters sent to and from Lydia Grace. Lydia Grace is a young girl who stays with her Mama, Papa, and Grandmother. Things get bad for the family and they have to let Lydia Grace stay with her Uncle Jim until the guardians can get their jobs going again. Lydia Grace loved to garden with her grandma. When she goes to Uncle Jim's house she fills his bakery with plants and flowers. Uncle Jim doesn't ever smile so Lydia Grace decided she is going to surprise him with something that...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| Caldecott winner Historical Fiction Review | 1 | 2 | Jul 02, 2012 01:13pm |
Wife of famed illustrator, David Small, Sarah Stewart has written a number of children's books. She grew up in Texas, and lives in Michigan with her husband.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/sarahs...
More about Sarah Stewart...
http://us.macmillan.com/author/sarahs...
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Aug 30, 2011 07:51am