Grandpa Green by Lane Smith
Children love hearing memorable stories about their parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents. This book taps into those special stories. Let's shine the spotlight on this sentimental book:
Summary
This story is built around the memories of a great-grandfather shared from the perspective of the great-grandson. The great-grandson is working in a garden of topiaries with his great-grandfather. The shapes of the topiaries align with the great-grandfather’s memories. The great-grandson truly walks through “memory lane” as he travels through the garden to help his great-grandfather.
Discussion
Sharing stories from the past creates a personal connection within families. Children will be able to relate to this story because of the relationship between the great-grandfather and great-grandson. Parents and grandparents will enjoy reading this story aloud to their children or grandchildren while sharing their own stories from their lives. The themes of family relationships, memories and aging will draw in all ages.
The illustrations drive the storytelling in Grandpa Green. The setting of the garden emphasizes a detail about the great-grandfather. The great-grandson reveals how the great-grandfather’s call to war took him away from his dream to study horticulture after high school. It is clear from the great-grandfather’s work in the garden that his passion never left him.
The rich shades of green used to create the topiaries stand out on every page. These illustrations are thick and full of green color in unique shapes. The rest of the details on the page are mostly outlined with thin lines. These illustrations have some light shades of color added sparsely, but include more white spaces. They clearly take a secondary role to the strong presence of the topiaries. Each topiary serves to match the text describing the background of the great-grandfather.
The illustration boundaries are held to one page or drawn across two pages for a wide view of detail. This is also true of the text. Some sentences are completed on one page, while others are carried over two to three pages. A special feature in the book is a fold out illustration at the end. It spans four pages, provides a full view of the garden and serves as a special finale to the book.
Overall, the strengths of this book are the strong themes (family relationships, memories and aging) and the way the illustrations connect with and enhance the text.
Awards/Reviews
Grandpa Green was a Caldecott Honor Book and an SLJ Best Book in 2011. Here are samples of two starred reviews:
“A clever premise, brilliant pacing, and whimsical illustrations offer a distinctive look at the life and artistic vision of one great-grandfather.” - School Library Journal
“The perfect book to help kids understand old age.” - Booklist
Teachers could include this book as a read-aloud when focusing on illustrations in picture books. Teachers could engage students in a discussion about what stands out in Smith’s illustrations and why the illustrations focus on the topiaries. A discussion of the colors used and how they were used could also be incorporated with this book.
This book could be used to discuss themes related to family relationships, memories and aging. It could be grouped with other books engaging in these themes like: Nana Upstairs and Down by Tomie dePaola or Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox.
Lane Smith has an interesting background as an author and illustrator. Various books he has written and/or illustrated could be collected for an author study. He recently wrote Abe Lincoln’s Dream and worked with Judith Viorst to illustrate Lulu Walks the Dogs.
Bibliographic Information
Smith, Lane. 2011. Grandpa Green. New York: Roaring Book Press. ISBN 978-1-59643-607-7.
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