It just goes to show there is nothing new under the sun as they say. I was talking to a fellow children's literature enthusiast about The Secret Sky Garden - a new book I loved reading and she mentioned The Gardener. The Gardener was published in 1997 and it follows the same theme. The Gardener won a Caldecott Honor in 1998 and YES it is still in print.
Times are hard. It is 1935 and Papa has no work, Mama has no work and so young Lydia Grace Finch is sent to live for a short time with Uncle Jim in the city. She will work in his bakery. Through a series of letters Lydia 'talks' firstly to Uncle Jim and then over the following months to her family. Lydia is a keen gardener but in the city everything looks dull and grey. Lydia is an observant girl. She spies some empty window boxes.
Lydia starts small and plants out the window boxes. Gradually we see flowers appearing in the Bakery. Then Lydia finds a secret place and she is able to extend her planting using cracked tea cups and old cake tins as flower pots. She is desperate to make Uncle Jim smile and she hopes her surprise will work. As the seasons change so does the neighborhood. Flowers appear on balconies and in shops. Finally the big day arrives. June 4th is a holiday. Lydia makes a path for Uncle Jim to follow up to her secret place which is on the roof on the building. I'm not sure Uncle Jim smiles, even though he should, but he does show his happiness and appreciation by baking a splendid cake! In the farewell scene it is clear he truly does care for little Lydia.
You can see the illustrations from this book on the publisher Macmillan web site. Here is a review by Elizabeth Bird in the School Library Journal and here is a detailed review with more story details. I found two videos of this book - with an older group of students it would be interesting to compare the narrators. 1. Kathleen Pelley 2. Bob Franklin
Here is another famous book by Sarah Stewart The Library.
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