Oscar's Tower of Flowers by Lauren Tobia

The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again - Charles Dickens

On the opening end paper we are given a cross section view of a city apartment building. A lady in a yellow sweater is waving to someone in the street below. On the title page mum has some luggage and her young son is pressing the buttons in the lift. In a set of small frames mum greets the lady in the yellow sweater. Lauren Tobia (illustrator of the Anna Hibiscus books) explains on her web page that this lady is Nana. Please don't turn to the back end papers until you have read the whole book then the wonderful surprise will be sure to delight you.

Blurb: Oscar’s mum has to go away for a little while, so Oscar is staying with his nana. He likes being with Nana in her apartment building, but he still misses his mum. One day, Nana has an idea, and together they carefully sow seeds—lots and lots of seeds! They water them and wait . . . and then the seeds start to grow and the flowers begin to bloom and there are plants everywhere. Luckily Oscar has a great idea for what they can do with the blossoms—share them! This brightly illustrated wordless picture book is full of graphic panels and sweeping spreads that evoke the urban bustle of a busy high-rise apartment and shows how each person can contribute to the spirit and vitality of a community.

Do you have a collection of wordless or textless (IBBY call them Silent Books) in your library? This one is quite perfect and will be enjoyed by your youngest students. You should also look at this book if you need titles for your preschool book collection or library. 

Warm and wonderful. Kirkus Star review

It’s an emotionally resonant story that will speak, in particular, to any child who has had to temporarily say goodbye to a caretaker. Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Share this warmhearted story with any preschooler experiencing separation from a loved one. Horn Book

The illustrations, a combination of graphic panels and spreads, take readers step-by-step through the simple story. The artwork is bright, expressive, and detailed. Emotion is expertly conveyed through facial expression and body language, and some parts of the story really tug on the heart, such as Oscar and Mum’s painful farewell and Oscar lying awake at night. Reading Time

Oscar's Tower of Flowers is a perfect book to add to your collection of stories about greening the community and the joy of watching tiny seeds turn in to glorious plants. It is also the first book I have ever seen where mum leaves for an extended period (we don't know why) and a young child is cared for by another family member for longer than a day.  Here are a few others books about gardens and greening the community. Type the titles into my search bar: