Amanda and her mum live on the fifteenth floor of an enormous apartment complex. Heaps of kids live in this building. Today is the day, after "a cold, hard winter", that the doors have been opened and so everyone jumps in the lift and travels down from their apartment homes to enjoy running and playing outside. It is true that their playground is a large area of concrete but there is so much these kids can do there - ball games, bikes and scooters, and running and jumping with their dogs.
"Children spilled out like sweets from a box."
I love the image conjured by this phrase - happiness, surprises, colours, sweet times ahead.
Amanda is carrying a huge box. It is filled with chalks of every colour. She sets her box down on the ground and draws an interesting picture. If you share this image with a group of children I am sure they would have lots of ideas about Amanda's drawing and also creative ideas about how to add to this image to make it into something even more interesting or perhaps surprising. In fact that is exactly what Jack does. He picks up some green chalk and adds stem and instantly Amanda's picture is a dandelion.
Gradually the enormous picture grows. Every child has something to contribute. You can see some of the children's chalk ideas on the book cover. Bob Graham, as always, paces the page turns perfectly building up our anticipation until just past half way when the full picture is revealed.
"Someone drew butterflies, balloons, a caterpillar, and a bumblebee passing by. A beautiful exotic garden spread across the concrete."
From her balcony high up in the building Nasrin sees the wonderful picture. She snaps a picture on her mobile phone and sends it to her mother in Isfahan, Iran.
"With a tear in her eye, Nasrin's mother then sent it to everyone she knew."
The image travels across the world including to the apartments above the concrete plaza where the children have been drawing. The residents finally look out of their windows and everyone applauds - someone even throws down some flowers. The children have drawn the most amazing scene in the area below their huge towering apartment building. It is a joyous moment. Days later though, (spoiler alert) it rains and the picture is washed away. Once the rain stops, the children once again "burst from the building". Will the children draw another huge piece of art or are there other ways to play?
Bob Graham gives the kids terrific names - Janet Fairly (it is so true some kids are always known by their full name); the Bradley twins; Lovejoy; Luke's dog Alfie; Indira; Cecilia; Arthur; Rosie and of course Amanda.
I really appreciate the way Bob Graham didn't give his story any hint of magical realism. Creating their chalk drawing has filled these kids with joy but Bob has not been tempted to recreate the famous scene from Mary Poppins and have the children jump into the picture to bring it to life. During Covid 19 lots of children drew games and pictures on sidewalks near their homes. You can see this idea on the cover a very old book by Bob Graham - Charlotte and Henry.
This sweet story - The Concrete Garden - celebrates simple things such as playing, having fun, cooperation and creativity. At no point does anyone ask Amanda if they can use her chalk - she has clearly bought it along to share. We are also left to guess how it is that mum had this huge box of chalk which is given to Amanda as she steps into the lift on the first day the children can all go outside to play.
Bob Graham is quite famous for his wonderful end papers but he has kept them quite minimal in his newest book (due for release August 2023). He does, however, begin the story on the page before the title page and then continues with a wordless story right across the double spread of the imprint page and title page. We see the kids all bursting out of the lift with so much excitement you can almost hear their laughter. Bob Graham pulls out all the illustration tricks as you would expect - full page spreads, small framed images, a birds eye view (complete with a huge bird), and lots of glorious white space. And of course there are lots of tiny details that require close inspection and revisiting.
Walker Books: After a cold, dark winter, doors opened. Children spilled out like sweets from a box. Amanda was last one out of the tower block. She brought some chalk with her. On every inch of the concrete outside, the children drew pictures of everything they could think of, from flowers and snails, to spaceships and queens. Before long, a beautiful and exotic garden spread out across the concrete. From master storyteller Bob Graham comes a charming, and gently post-pandemic story about finding optimism after a dark spell, and the nurturing power of community friendships in an urban setting. The Concrete Garden will resonate with anyone who has been apart from their loved ones, and will encourage us all to find the brightness and colour within ourselves.
Bookseller blurb: Bob Graham’s heartwarming tale, The Concrete Garden follows Amanda and the other children as they burst from their tower block, armed with chalk and brimming with creativity. With pictures of everything from flowers to spaceships adorning the once drab concrete surroundings, a beautiful garden springs to life. This gently post-pandemic story celebrates the power of community and friendship to nurture optimism in dark times, and inspires readers to find their own inner brightness and colour. It’s a must-read for anyone who has experienced separation from loved ones.
In this book, The Concrete Garden, Bob Graham revisits the themes of A Bus called Heaven where, in a similar way, the small actions of a child lead to wonderful community connections.
Here are some other picture books about drawing with chalk.
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