In Letters and Flowers,
The Gardener Sends Us Joy

The Gardener by Sarah Stewart

Letters and flowers. They are two precious things in a world that often moves too fast to appreciate the touching of two souls and the aroma and beauty that can refresh the spirit.

Perhaps it is because those things are so precious that Sarah Stewart's The Gardener is so endearing. Set during the Depression, The Gardener is composed of a series of letters that Lydia Grace Finch sends first to her uncle and then to her family at home.

We learn in the first letter, written on August 27, 1935, that Lydia Grace's father has recently lost his job and no one has the money to bring sewing to her mother anymore. The uncle owns a bakery in the city and Lydia Grace is being sent to live with him until things get better for the parents and the grandmother.

Uncle Jim is a dour man, though not at all a mean one. He's simply lost his ability to smile, something that the ever-cheerful, happy, and optimistic Lydia Grace doesn't quite comprehend, though neither does she ever take it personally. She makes it her mission to get him to smile, and in the process brings smiles and beauty to many, many people.

The entire story is told through the letters with no other narrative provided. And the letters are only from Lydia Grace's perspective. Anything else that we learn apart from her words comes from the illustrations of David Small, the illustrator and the author's husband. It is here that we see much of what Lydia Grace is too modest to mention for herself-the ways that she transforms her environment and brings joy to the people around her. We watch as her colorful beauty spreads over the gray of the city and the inhabitants bustling through it.

When Lydia Grace first arrives in the train station, only the patch where she stands is in vivid colors. All else is dark and shadowy, a grimy station where people are mere hurried shadows and the new life holds a great number of fears and uncertainties. It is appropriate, though, that Lydia Grace stands in color, as she never does let the shadows of doubt and fear infect her. She is even able to see beyond her Uncle Jim's gruffness.

Once Lydia Grace arrives at the bakery, things start to brighten up. She meets Ed and Emma Beech, two helpers in the bakery, and the cat Otis. In March, she starts planting flowers and planning a surprise to bring a smile to her Uncle Jim's face. Emma is her eager partner, a woman with a kind-face who welcomes and nurtures the joy that Lydia Grace brings.

It is a testament to Lydia Grace's powerful personality that she finds an abandoned, cluttered, and dirty rooftop and describes it in her letter as a "secret, wonderful place." She sees potential among the broken pots and abandoned paint cans and believes in her ability to transform it.

By the time her father finds work and she is able to go home again (nearly a year later), she still hasn't gotten Uncle Jim to smile, but he does make her an amazing cake covered in frosted flowers which Lydia Grace said was like a thousand smiles.

The book is filled with sweetness and encourages an optimism without being heavy-handed. Lydia Grace is able to create beauty wherever she goes and the people around her respond to that beauty. Mind, Lydia Grace herself is a rather plain looking girl, but people respond to her because of her love and enthusiasm.

It is a book that is endearing and worthy of the Caldecott Honor it won in 1998.

--B. Redman