Grandpa Green [Hardcover]

Lane Smith (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: August 30, 2011 | Age Range: 5 - 9 years | Lexile Measure: 360L (What's this?)

Grandpa Green wasn't always a gardener. He was a boy who lived on a farm and a child who had chickenpox. He was a soldier, a husband and, most of all, an artist. Follow his grandson through a garden where memories are handed down through the shapes of topiary trees and imagination recreates things forgotten. GRANDPA GREEN opens the door to a garden of wonder which parents and grandparents will be able to share with children for generations to come.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Product Description

From the creator of the national bestseller It's a Book comes a timeless story of family history, legacy, and love.

 

Grandpa Green wasn't always a gardener. He was a farmboy and a kid with chickenpox and a soldier and, most of all, an artist. In this captivating new picture book, readers follow Grandpa Green's great-grandson into a garden he created, a fantastic world where memories are handed down in the fanciful shapes of topiary trees and imagination recreates things forgotten.

 

In his most enigmatic and beautiful work to date, Lane Smith explores aging, memory, and the bonds of family history and love; by turns touching and whimsical, it's a stunning picture book that parents and grandparents will be sharing with children for years to come.

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A Look Inside Grandpa Green
(Click on Images to Enlarge)

Review

“In this affecting picture book, a boy recounts the life of his beloved great-grandfather…The author’s illustrations, a blend of line drawings and sponge painting, have a classic feel, and make clever use of the topiary theme, rewarding close examination and repeated reading.”--The New Yorker

 

“Great-grandpa’s memory may be going, but the past remains vibrantly alive in the playful topiaries that decorate his brilliantly green yard. Lush and magical.” --People

 

"An unassuming little masterpiece…the book’s power lies in its rich, allusive artistry.” --New York Times Book Review

 

“It's a rare glimpse into Smith's softer side--as skillful as his more sly offerings, but crafted with honesty and heart.” --Publishers Weekly Starred Review

 

"Visually intriguing and emotionally resonant, this is a book to pore over and talk about. With each subsequent reading, it offers new layers of meaning and visual connections."–School Library Journal Starred Review

“Opening this book is like opening a gate to a secret garden, filled with the treasures of a life well lived. In his portrait of a boy who adores and honors his forgetful great-grandfather, Smith shows us that the things that are meaningful to the ones we love become part of our garden, too.” —Shelf Awareness

“Though this book has lots of adult appeal, it will also be a wonderful bridge to exploring family history with the very young.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Sketched with a finely lined fairy-tale wispiness and dominated by verdant green, the illustrations are not just creative but poignant.” —Booklist

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 5 - 9 years
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Roaring Brook Press; First Edition edition (August 30, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9781596436077
• ISBN-13: 978-1596436077
• ASIN: 1596436077
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 11.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > Children's Books > Social Situations > Family Life > Multigenerational

More About the Author

Lane Smith is the author and/or illustrator of several award-winning books for children. He is a two-time winner of the Caldecott Honor for Grandpa Green (2012) and The Stinky Cheese Man (1993). Four of his books have won the New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award and several of his books, including It's a Book, John, Paul George & Ben and Madam President have been New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestsellers. Mr. Smith has illustrated works by the likes of Bob Shea, Roald Dahl, Dr. Seuss, George Saunders, Judith Viorst, Florence Parry Heide, Jack Prelutsky and Eve Merriam. Some of his most popular books are with frequent collaborator, Jon Scieszka. Mr. Smith lives in Connecticut with his wife Molly Leach, an award-winning graphic designer.
www.lanesmithbooks.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A layered tale of loves lost and found and lost again but forever remembered August 3, 2011

By Jason Kirkfield VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Lane Smith wrote and illustrated this cycle-of-life story. (His wife, Molly Leach, did the book design.) The book's own ten-word summary says it all: "A child explores the ordinary life of his extraordinary great-grandfather." If you allow me to indulge, I will gladly add my own slightly-longer-than-ten-word review.

Grandpa Green is not your run-of-the-mill picture book. It is a layered tale of loves lost and found and lost again but forever remembered. Like the collaborative City Dog, Country Frog, this book would be particularly appropriate for children who have lost a loved one, in this case a grandparent instead of a pet. But Grandpa Green trumps that Mo Willems/John J Muth effort, because it is imbued with a lifetime's worth of remembrances, supported by memory-anchored illustrations. As the boy recounts his great-grandfather's ultimately not so ordinary life, he progressively collects gardening tools that Grandpa Green has forgetfully left scattered throughout the garden. Enjoyably for the reader, most of these inventory items whimsically enhance the memories captured in the beautifully drawn (grown?) foliage. Some of Lane's artwork here is best appreciated on subsequent readings; I think I will let my kids find all the wonderful little details on their own.

The final page (in fact, the only page following the four-page fold-out dénouement) sees the boy creating a topiary on his own, this of his great-grandfather. Thus the cycle continues: the old man's love for horticulture--and the boy's love for the old man--both assured.

Jason Kirkfield, Vine Review, August 3, 2011

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars sublime January 23, 2012

By K. Francois

Format:Hardcover

The first time I read this to my rambunctious 5.5yo son I finished it and thought "huh, beautiful, but I don't feel like I got much out of it, how are children supposed to get this?" But as I went to set it to the side my son stopped me, he'd noticed something in the book and wanted to go through and read it again. Sure enough, another layer emerged at the second reading, and the third reading that night.

This has become one of our bedtime favorites. It's a book that gets us to slow down and talk about what we're reading (a slowness that pairs well with the topiary images I think). I'm thankful that the text is brief because it allows us to read it multiple times in an evening and fill in the spaces with our world observations. (and it really is beautifully illustrated.)

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful illustrations, story is lacking November 17, 2011

By V. Linnean VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Yes, this is a children's picture book with beautiful illustrations. It tells Granpa Green's story in topiaries throughout the book. It's very clever and something I've never seen before. However, it is a children's picture book, and the target audience is preschool children. My 4 1/2 year old son got rather bored with the book because there really is not much in the way of captivating text. My 20 month old daughter liked the pictures, but there are other books she goes to long before she'll pick this one up.

I think this is a sweet, old fashioned book that appeals more to parents than to young children. I also have a bit of an issue with the book talking about Grandpa going to war, and showing a topiary cannon. My son asked what that was, and at 4 1/2 I don't feel comfortable discussing war with him yet. Perhaps if he were 6 or 7, but this book doesn't have the story line to captivate children of that age.

Bottom Line: This is a beautiful coffee table book, but not something young children will love.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Symbolic Connections of a Life July 31, 2011

By VReviews VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Multi-award winning author and illustrator Lane Smith has hit another one out-of-the-park, or in this case garden. From the very first page, young and old alike will be drawn into the whimsical garden of `Grandpa Green". Told through the eyes of Grandpa Green's great-grandkid, each page tells a piece of Grandpa Green's life via the visual world of his topiary trees, and a few perfectly captured words.

The illustrations are done in a subtle palette of green with light touches of yellow, blue and grey, reminiscent of Margaret Bloy Graham's classic illustrations in Gene Zion's `Harry the Dirty Dog' series. Each page provides a biographic fact from Grandpa Green's life; but what makes this tale so delightful is the symbolic topiary trees. Various perspectives are employed to challenge the visual reader to first see the picture and then understand the symbolic meaning of each topiary. Humor is not only expressed within the trees; but also through the boys attempts to help in the garden.

Teachers will delight in the page by page opportunities for instruction across content areas. From idioms, time-order words, summarizing skills, time & place discussions; to science (plants & animals), health (memory, aging) and social science (family, community, WWII) lessons, `Grandpa Green' is packed full of ideas for exploration in the classroom. This is an outstanding book for elementary age kids; but importantly this is also a book for every adult who longs to remember the magic from their past, and the continuity of their life.

A Harry the Dirty Dog Treasury: Three Stories

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Gracefully tackles the subjects of aging and intergenerational relationships December 22, 2011

By Brimful Curiosities

Format:Hardcover

Grandpa Green captures important life moments in his garden, a horticultural memoir of sorts showing events and people from his past preserved in topiary. His great-grandson explores the lush trip down memory lane, stopping by all the carefully shaped trees and bushes and picking up the tools his great-grandfather has dropped along the way. A crying baby trimmed from a bush symbolizes Grandpa Green's birth, a carrot shaped topiary reminds everyone of his farming background, and a cannon and parachuters made out of plants represent his wartime experiences. "He used to remember everything. Now he's pretty old." Grandpa Green shapes his story plant by plant with his clippers, his most significant memories living on, flourishing and serving as a reminder, while adding new ones as he is assisted by his great-grandchild. Grandpa Green's legacy stands, ready to be passed down generation after generation.

Grandpa Green is the kind of book that affects people, young and old, in different ways. It's a poignant and interesting exploration of a life, and though Smith describes it as a fictional story, it seems deeply personal. Those with an elderly friend or family member or those with loved ones diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease will find it particularly touching. And even though the book tackles serious topics, there are plenty of touches of humor and playfulness that you'd expect from Smith like bunnies eating a topiary carrot and a reference to the Wizard of Oz. Both my daughter and son love to discuss all the detailed images found in the ink line drawings and painted foliage.

Minimal text accompanies the amazing illustrations. The story is told by the great-grandson as he wanders through the garden, connecting young readers to the story.... It's not easy bringing up the topic of aging with children. My own children are lucky enough to see two of their great-grandparents regularly and while they love them dearly, it's hard for them to see past the wrinkles and gray hair, to understand the past and see how it intertwines with their own life. It's amazing how books like this help bridge the gap and give kids reasons to search out their own family stories.

Lane Smith's new picture book, Grandpa Green, gracefully tackles the subjects of aging and intergenerational relationships. With unusually lush, green illustrations, it's simply a beautiful book. Read the book one-on-one together with a child, linger over the fine illustrations, and encourage the child to ask questions about his/her own great-grandparents, grandparents and family history. And, if you're like me, you'll find yourself profoundly touched as well, perhaps even a little watery-eyed. Read more ›