Friday, February 28, 2014

Weeds and wonder…


We have no kids, yet Weeds Find a Way is the second children’s book I’ve been offered for review. Why do I say yes? Because I adore illustrated books for kids, so much so I spent far too long pouring over this list of 8 “picture books” up for the 76th Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American children's book of 2013. I wanted to order them all!

Weeds Find a Way (words by Cindy Jenson-Elliott and pictures by Carolyn Fisher) is a richly illustrated book which should ignite a little wonder in any person (young or old) who is lucky enough to open its cover.

Since weeds are all around us how better to entice a young person to the beauty of nature? I think this book would make a great gift for a kid without gardening parents. If they start noticing the differences in the weeds around them, and paying attention to their blooms and seeds, perhaps there just might be a lifelong fire lit for the appreciation of all plants?

The final four pages of the book ("Meet the Weeds") seem to be directed at a much older audience, the words more educational. Perhaps this section is intended as a teaching guide for both the parents and the children?

From that section: “So go outside. Look around. You don’t need a garden to know that nature is at work. Chances are, wherever you stand, a weed is nearby, working its way through the soil, finding a way to live and bloom, adapt and grow in tough times and desolate places, making the world more beautiful one blossom at a time.”

My husband Andrew is fond of saying “First have wonder, then make wonder” to describe his approach to artwork. He finds wonder in the natural world and the way people interact with it, and then translates this wonder into artwork. He began working on a new series of drawings about the same time I received Weeds Find a Way. I find his approach and the message in the book to be very similar, and inspiring. His latest drawings and a couple of books are destined for our niece and nephew in California.

The topic of his work is the mystery of what lies under the water’s surface. The 3-D drawing pictured below is a depiction of a ship on the surface of the water, a long line down into the depths and a diving ball (bathysphere) with a window allowing the occupants to see out into the depths around them swarming with deep sea life.

Next is a cardboard cutout window into the deep, by spinning the blue wheel on the right a series of creatures swims by, never completely revealing themselves.

There are other drawings and cut outs designed to perk up curious little minds.

This shark is meant to be mounted on a car window, his open mouth eating the cars and houses as you drive by...

A primitive jawless fish, How did it chew its food? How did it show its mood? Did the other primitive fishes think it shallow or rude?

Fishes or weeds, dangerous gardening, or a tiger that decides the civilized life isn't all it’s cracked up to be I hope you'll take the opportunity to pick up an illustrated children's book and get lost for a minute in the wonder...(it's almost as fun as getting lost in the garden)....

Weeds Find a Way was sent to me free-of charge by the publisher and marketing firm, I was under no obligation to write about it, or my husband's artwork.

All material © 2009-2014 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

23 comments:

  1. Oh, thanks so much for this slight departure from your usual (which I of course also love), into a review of a children's book. I'm always looking for new books for my grandnieces and nephews. I adore the shark and the diving ball! How fun!

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    1. The only part I don't like about Andrew's artwork is when it has to go away. Thankfully two of my favorite ever pieces he did hang in a friends home in Seattle, so I do get to visit them.

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    2. Thanks for reviewing Weeds Find a Way. Andrew's artwork of fish is amazing! I really enjoy looking at it and know my students would also enjoy learning about fish from it.

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  2. Glad you also liked the book :-).

    You need to feature more of Andrew's artwork. I love his style of drawing!

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    1. Thanks Gerhard, sadly his artwork never looks as good in a photograph or scan as it does in "real life" - I always feel like I'm taking something away from it when I try and share it here on the blog.

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  3. It looks like a wondeful book, I like it when children´s books are about plants instead of animals, as it is less frequent. I´ve liked Andrew´s drawings since I saw some about plants you once posted!!

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    1. Indeed, it seems animals are the more usual topics. Or evil stepmothers.

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  4. Andrew always comes up with the coolest stuff! Weeds Find A Way looks like a great book to read & then take the kids out on a nature walk to collect weeds & then classify them using the glossary in the back. We could make a graph to show how many of each weed was collected or classify the weeds by leaf shape. I'm excited and am going to buy that book right away for my kiddos! Thanks.

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    1. Your kiddos? Oh - the school kids? For a minute I thought you'd forgotten to tell me something!!!

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  5. What a great post today, thank you Danger. I really admire Andrew's artwork, it seem so appropriate to be working this way for curious minds, i.e. children. An incredible fit I never thought about before. Cheers to Andrew for creating and for you for encouraging. Wonderful, magical stuff that makes life worth living and a little wacky fun.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it Tamara, someday we'll get you over here to the house and you can see the fun things he's been working on lately.

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  6. Anything that builds an appreciation of nature in a world increasingly determined to ignore nature is to be celebrated!

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  7. That Andrew has almost too many talents to fit into one life. Has he thought about getting published? This really needs to get out there. Love the weed book too. I have a whole shelf of illustrated children's books. Have you seen 'The Empty Creel'? It is illustrated with wonderful woodcuts.

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    1. Honestly he's still really enjoying the less stressful world of only making artwork for himself (not for gallery shows). It's a great idea though, a book of his drawings and ideas would be so wonderful. I just looked up The Empty Creel, I'll have to check it out!

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  8. so funny....I said yes to weeds too, and I never do book reviews. But there's no way I could top this wonderful review, with that great extra, a glimpse of Andrew's work. I bet Andrew loves The Life Aquatic as much as I do!

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    1. Yes! We both loved that movie, and enjoy the soundtrack still.

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  9. Thank you for the book review! Great to have your recommendation. The illustrations are so vivid. I'll be getting this book from the library to read to my 5-year old soon. I love Andrew's quote. Nurturing a "sense of wonder" has been high on our family's list of educational values, thanks to Opal School (PPS public charter), and this idea needs to be spread out and adopted more widely! The fine arts (as well as gardening!) are rich languages of expression.

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    1. I've already promised my copy to someone or I'd offer it to you...sounds like it would be perfect for your home.

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  10. How clever is Andrew!? I love that spinning wheel that only shows glimpses of the sea creatures. Fantastic. And the kids book is really great, too. I do have a quiet appreciation of the resilience of weeds.

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    1. The do deserve respect for their tenacity, don't they?

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  11. Mr. Danger's art is utterly charming!

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  12. If you are interested in reading more on weeds, let me recommend one of my favorites: Just Weeds - History, Myths, and Uses, by Pamela Jones.

    And now that you've reminded me of it with this post, I'm going to read it again!

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