A child's garden by Michael Foreman
Walker Books,
2009.
ISBN 9781406312072.
(All ages) Highly recommended. Michael
Foreman has written another stunning book with a message of peace that
tugs at
the heart strings. A little boy lives in a barren, war torn area behind
a tall
barbed wire fence. One day he finds a tiny green shoot and waters and
nurtures
it until it grows to cover the fence. Birds and butterflies find it and
the
area becomes a place of beauty and a playground for children. Then one
day the
soldiers come along and destroy it. The boy is heartbroken, but hope
arrives
when a little girl on the other side of the fence finds some shoots and
waters
them.
Foreman's illustrations bring to life the bleakness of war. With black
and
white pencil drawings he shows the desolate landscape with its ruins,
buildings
piled high with rubble and ragged shelters. As the boy's little shoot
grows, he
adds colour to show the beauty of plants and the birds and butterflies
that
collect there and the happiness of the children who have a lovely
garden to
play in. When the shoots grow on both sides of the fence and the
landscape is
transformed, the illustrations are all in colour to show the sharing of
peace.
Foreman's message is overt. He gives the reader hope that the seeds of
peace
can be planted deep and will one day flourish in a place where there is
no
fence and people can live peacefully together. This would be a
wonderful book
to use with all age groups to look at the effects of war and oppression
and how
resilient the human spirit can be.
Pat Pledger