The Secret Sky Garden by Linda Sarah illustrated by Fiona Lumbers

I am going to quote some of the text first off because I just felt these words wrap around me when I read this utterly beautiful book:

"Funni liked the old airport car park.
It hadn't been use for year and was greyer than a Monday sky.
But Funni loved being there, 
hearing the planes take off and touch down,
while the blur rooftops stretched for miles like a calm still sea."

Funni spends her Saturdays at the old car park. She brings her kite and her recorder but it feels as though something is missing. She uses her recorder to imitate the sounds she hears - the tannoy, the whine of the planes and the bells of city square but it still feels as though something is missing.

Things need to change and so Funni hatches a plan. She decides to clean up the old car park and plant flowers. She picks up all the litter, squished cans and "other left behinds." After three Saturdays of hard work she plants her first seeds into the soil she has lugged in a sack.  Up in the sky a young boy, called Zoo, looks out the window of an aeroplane. He sees the flowers that now cover the old car park and he knows he must go there.

" (it's) a garden, there, in the air. full of flowers, bright like an emperor's blanket, nodding and waving - hello!"

Funni continues to play music, fly her kite and water her garden but something is still missing. It feels like a hole. Then Zoo arrives. What a beautiful page filled with flowers and cleverly designed to take the whole double spread as you turn the book longways. Zoo has bought his kite and his harmonica!  Take a minute now to compare the opening end papers and the final end papers. That's the best way to appreciate the miracle of this transformation. Yes the old concrete space is transformed but so are Funni and Zoo.

Urban renewal, friendship, determination and perseverance, creating an enriched environment and the search for happiness are the themes of this beautiful and seemingly simple picture book. But these themes are done with such a light touch - like a butterfly landing on your hand - you don't realise the magic of the moment straight away but if you stop and think about it you do. In one review I read of this book I saw words like uplifting, enchanting, 'make your heart sing.'

I learnt a new word reading this book. I love it when that happens - "tannoy". It means a loud speaker making announcements.

Take a look here to see the illustrations in this book by Fiona Lumbers. What a brilliant team - Linda Sarah and Fiona Lumbers. I hope they have plans to collaborate on another book soon.

After you read The Secret Sky Garden try to find these books which are also gentle tales of urban renewal (and in some cases friendship too):

 Read this review of The Curious Garden by Betsy Bird. I found myself applying so many of her comments about The Curious Garden to The Secret Sky Garden.

Linda Sarah is also the author of On Sudden Hill - another picture book I adored.