Sidewalk Flowers
Description
Winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Illustrated Book
A New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of the Year
In this wordless picture book, a little girl collects wildflowers while her distracted father pays her little attention. Each flower becomes a gift, and whether the gift is noticed or ignored, both giver and recipient are transformed by their encounter.
“Written” by award-winning poet JonArno Lawson and brought to life by illustrator Sydney Smith, Sidewalk Flowers is an ode to the importance of small things, small people and small gestures.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7
Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.
Reviews
A poignant, wordless storyline . . . this ode to everyday beauty sings sweetly.
- Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW
An emotionally moving, visually delightful ode to the simple powers of observation and empathy. . . . A book to savor slowly and then revisit again and again.
- School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
Affecting, efficient, moving, kind. Lawson’s done the impossible. He wrote poetry into a book without a single word, and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
- A Fuse #8 Production
A quiet, graceful book about the perspective-changing wonder of humble, everyday pleasures.
- Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
I’d give this book to anyone with a coffee table, in a household with or without children.
- New York Times
A reminder that what looks like play can sometimes be a sacrament.
- Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
Sidewalk Flowers wraps readers in kindness, tenderness, generosity and wonder.
- Quill & Quire, STARRED REVIEW