Florette

PreS-Gr 1—Moving is difficult for most people, but leaving a beloved garden to inhabit an urban apartment is quite an upheaval for this young protagonist: subdued neutral hues comprise the palette at this point, a situation Mae tries to rectify by drawing a chalk garden on the adjoining plaza and on the boxes piled up in her room. Alas, rain and her father's unpacking ruin her creations. Even a family outing to park swings seems doomed when Mae observes stones instead of grass, but spying an "apple-tree bird," the inquisitive girl discovers a luscious, blossoming paradise—enclosed in glass. Although "Florette" is closed, a tiny sprout is growing from a crack in the building. Potting it, she takes it to her plaza; when the view pulls back, this too has become a verdant oasis, with vines hanging from balconies and a diverse group of children playing among the flowerpots. The narration is restrained and tightly constructed, allowing the watercolor compositions to contrast the pale city—punctuated with the smallest spots of pigment—with the many shades and shapes of greenery in the botanical garden; that page turn is spectacular.