The Paradise Garden [Hardcover]

Colin Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up

From Colin Thompson, whose work has been described by The New York Times as "unusually provocative and rewarding," comes a lush journey into the soul of a young city boy who finds peace amidst the chaos around him.  The noise of blaring radios, honking horns, fighting neighbors, crying babies, and his own shouting mother are driving Peter crazy.  His salvation appears in the form of a fabulous park in the west of the city where he finds shelter from the storm in his mind and a refuge for his weary senses. Thompson's intricate art is filled with hidden surprises, begging the reader to look again and again, holding forth the promise of a new reward each time.  Fans of Thompson's previous pictorial fantasies (Looking for Atlantis, The Paper Bag Prince) will welcome his latest, and new readers will thrill at the opulence and wisdom of this stunning visual feast.  

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-4AThompson presents another psychological journey in picture-book format. Peter, an unhappy boy from an unhappy family, longs to escape the noise, dirt, and chaos of contemporary urban life. He tells his mother that he will be traveling with his father and runs away to a fantastical garden filled with beauty, kindness, and peace. As summer ends, he realizes that he must return home, but he has collected enough seeds to grow his own small garden wherever he is. Readers' visual experiences parallel Peter's psychological experiences. The crowded urban world is filled with dark cross-hatching and sharp angles. The colors are muted and dull. In contrast, the garden is bursting with lush watercolors and free-flowing lines. Peter's peaceful moments are portrayed in framed scenes within the large garden, symbolic of his internal state. Many youngsters have felt the need to run from a sense of hopelessness and loneliness. Unfortunately, even those who long for escape won't be comforted by this book. Young children won't understand the symbolic message, while those old enough and experienced enough to empathize with Peter's plight won't be satisfied with the simplistic resolution. A well-intentioned effort that doesn't succeed.AHeide Piehler, Shorewood Public Library, WI
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Thompson (Tower to the Sun, 1997, etc.) spins elements not so much of escape as solace in his story of a boy who flees the rattle and nonsense of his home life for the pastoral confines of an apparently endless city park. Peter finds urban home life noisy: The ever-present city sounds, the quibbling at his home``He thought about his parents fighting and his father walking out.'' He devises a scheme: He will spend the summer in the park, telling his mother he is going on vacation with his dad (``She was annoyed, but not enough to stop him, not enough to phone his father''). In the park he fashions a world of peace and discovery, learning to fend for himself, getting to know his new haunts, taking measure of the families he watches there. When the seasons turn, when he realizes that he must return home, he takes with him the magic of the place and crafts a little of it in his own backyard. Bittersweet doesn't begin to describe this hard-luck story; Peter's pain is immediate and unavoidable, yet his willing of a more tender life is an equal force. Thompson's illustrations are great pools of imagery that seem to go on forever. Not all children will know how to take their futures in hand as Peter does, but the knowledge that they can try resides within these illuminating pages. (Picture book. 8-13) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; 1st ed. US edition (March 10, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679890769
• ISBN-13: 978-0679890768
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,329,664 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A stunningly beautiful book! Best we've read this summer, September 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Paradise Garden (Hardcover)

My five year old daughter Polly writes: "A boy went in to a paradise garden. There were loads of animals. He ran away from his home. He lived on scraps of food that he found. You can find loads of Cafe Max's in this book. And some Kangaroos (or possibly dogs) looking out of windows. And little eyes poking out. It was excellent. (I liked it too - Mum)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting, December 19, 2009

By 

E. Inks - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Paradise Garden (Hardcover)

I bought this book when I was a single, young mother of a 2 year old boy. He is now 10. It is still a very important book to us. It deals with the pain of parents separating, but it is tempered by the most beautiful illustrations I have ever seen in a childrens book. A very important book for children of divorce, but also wonderful for children of all walks...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous Rendering of a Poignant Story, July 26, 2008

By 

MTL (Somewherein, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Paradise Garden (Hardcover)

As always, Colin Thompson does it again. His attention to detail is stunning, and the details are always exquisite and uncommon. His imagination just soars.

And, as always, the story itself is always poignant and often weaves either a personal moral tale, or a more universal one.

I am always on the lookout for his books. They satisfy on many levels.