The Paradise Garden - Hardcover

Thompson, Colin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679890769 ISBN 13: 9780679890768

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1998

Synopsis

From Colin Thompson, whose work has been described by The New York Times as "unusually provocative and rewarding," comes a lush journey into the soul of a young city boy who finds peace amidst the chaos around him.  The noise of blaring radios, honking horns, fighting neighbors, crying babies, and his own shouting mother are driving Peter crazy.  His salvation appears in the form of a fabulous park in the west of the city where he finds shelter from the storm in his mind and a refuge for his weary senses. Thompson's intricate art is filled with hidden surprises, begging the reader to look again and again, holding forth the promise of a new reward each time.  Fans of Thompson's previous pictorial fantasies (Looking for Atlantis, The Paper Bag Prince) will welcome his latest, and new readers will thrill at the opulence and wisdom of this stunning visual feast.  

About this title

About the Author:

Colin Thompson is fast becoming a cult.  His incredibly detailed pictures, packed with bizarre touches, worlds within worlds, and wondrous visual jokes, are addictive.  Colin's book Ruby , an international hit, was linked to a contest with a real vintage automobile as the prize.  His earlier titles include The Paper Bag Prince and Looking for Atlantis .  After leaving art school, and subsequently, the London School of Film Technique, Colin worked for a time at the BBC before moving to the Outer Herbrides, where he began twenty years of self-employment in ceramics.  Colin now works full time as an author and illustrator.  

From Kirkus Reviews:

Thompson (Tower to the Sun, 1997, etc.) spins elements not so much of escape as solace in his story of a boy who flees the rattle and nonsense of his home life for the pastoral confines of an apparently endless city park. Peter finds urban home life noisy: The ever-present city sounds, the quibbling at his home``He thought about his parents fighting and his father walking out.'' He devises a scheme: He will spend the summer in the park, telling his mother he is going on vacation with his dad (``She was annoyed, but not enough to stop him, not enough to phone his father''). In the park he fashions a world of peace and discovery, learning to fend for himself, getting to know his new haunts, taking measure of the families he watches there. When the seasons turn, when he realizes that he must return home, he takes with him the magic of the place and crafts a little of it in his own backyard. Bittersweet doesn't begin to describe this hard-luck story; Peter's pain is immediate and unavoidable, yet his willing of a more tender life is an equal force. Thompson's illustrations are great pools of imagery that seem to go on forever. Not all children will know how to take their futures in hand as Peter does, but the knowledge that they can try resides within these illuminating pages. (Picture book. 8-13) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0679890769
• ISBN 13: 9780679890768
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32