April's Garden by Isla McGuckin illustrated by Catalina Echeverri

April and her Mamma have to move. The text does not say why but the illustration shows the desperation of this event as they run through the darkness, April drops her precious doll and mum bundles her into the car. Mamma says the new house will be good. 

It has a garden and lots of space, but all April can see is closed doors, no children and the rain-soaked garden is hidden because it is so late at night. Mamma suggest April might like to draw the garden of her dreams. 

Remember April lost her doll.  These lines from the text broke my heart:

"And then Mamma said, 'See what else is in those bags.' So, April looked. There was a doll with tangled hair. There were colouring books filled with somebody else's colouring. And there was a set of cups that stacked. April said, 'For a baby!'"

Then someone donates a few old magazines to the shelter and inside April finds packets of seeds. Those baby stacking cups are perfect, and the wet garden soil is easy to scoop. April plants and the seeds and then she waits and waits and waits. 

"Hope is a lovely, magical sort of thinking. It can help you to feel happy, no matter what."

"But nothing felt hopeful or lovely or magical or happy."

Eventually Mamma and April do move into a better place. Those little seeds eventually produce beautiful flowers and so the story closes with a sense of hope and happiness for their future. 

When you read this book with a group of older primary students make sure you talk about the way the illustrator gradually changes the colours used in this book from dull sepia tones and then tiny fragments of colour. Brightly coloured flowers are the focus of the final double spread. You could also talk about the two ladies in the final illustration - a social worker and a woman from the shelter. Take a look at this book trailer from the publisher Graffeg. 

Bookseller blurb: April and her mother have been housed in temporary accommodation. Promised a brighter future by her mother, April finds her life there to be filled with things that are old, broken and impersonal. She longs for her own things and for some beauty in her life but experiences only frustration and disappointment until one day she plants some seeds…

This stunning story about a mother and child starting again is very touching, and could possibly represent the experiences of mothers and children forced to flee abusive homes, or of refugees starting again in a new country. Echeverri’s illustration begins with dark, scribbled pages of rain and darkness, and gradually get lighter as the story progresses and as April’s hope returns. Beautiful and heartwarming. Book Trust

April's Garden was shortlisted for the Yoto Carnegies 2024. 

Companion books on the topic finding a new home:

A Place to Stay

The Colour of Home

The Invisible

Amira's Suitcase

It's a no money day

And I am keen to find these books also on the topic of homelessness and moving into a temporary shelter.

And on the topic of waiting for seeds to grow:

Oscar's tower of flowers

The Secret Sky garden

Stormy: a story about finding a forever home by GuoJing

 

A young girl heads to the park. She sits a bench seat to read her newspaper when she spies a small shaggy dog. He looks across at the girl but seems reluctant or perhaps too scared to come close. As night falls the little dog huddles under the same bench seat. The next day the girl arrives again but this time she brings a small ball. She tries to tempt the pup to share a game but again the little dog won't come close.

The next day, with a lot of patience and persistence, the girl finally entices the pup to play with the ball. At the end of the day the girl heads home. She does not look back but we can see our little intrepid pup is following behind. He sits patiently outside her building. It begins to rain and the rain is very heavy. There is thunder and lightning. The pup is forced to shelter under a discarded cardboard box. These scenes reminded me of Mutt Dog.

The young girl is worried about the welfare of her friend out in this wild story so she heads back to the park but the little dog is actually just outside her house. When she returns home the pair are finally reunited. She gently carries the pup inside, his fur is dried, and she gives him his own dish of food. You can almost hear the slurping. This lucky pup has found a "forever home".

There is a huge treat waiting for you under the dust jacket of Stormy but I suggest you might like to wait until you have read the story. (If you don't have the book you can see the reveal here). The end papers also have the potential for a rich discussion with a group of young readers. The use of colour here moves the beginning from the wild storm and all the feelings of cold, despair, loneliness and sadness felt by the little dog while the final sky has a warm fluffy cloud reflecting the newly washed and dried coat of the little lost pup.

It’s a poignant tale, one about compassion and, above all, building trust. Seven Impossible things before Breakfast

The narrative is conveyed so capably through the compelling illustrations that not a word is needed. A touching tale about the strong emotional connection between dog and human. Kirkus Star review

Here is the another book by GuoJing: