The Girl of the Wish Garden - Hardcover

Krishnaswami, Uma

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 155498324X ISBN 13: 9781554983247

Publisher: Groundwood Books, 2013

Synopsis

This poetic tale opens when Lina, a tiny girl no bigger than a thumb, is found in a flower by her mother. Because she is so tiny, adventure and mishap easily befall her a giant frog leaves her stranded on a lily pad, she is freed by curious fish, then pestered by crazy bugs. Lina lives by herself in the depths of a forest and as the cold of winter approaches she begins to feel lonely, until one day Lina finds an injured swallow. She revives the swallow and the two of them fly together to the garden of wishes. Uma Krishnaswami’s text captures the spirit of the luminous illustrations, creating a book that is beautiful, magical, and mysterious.

About this title

About the Author:

Uma Krishnaswami has written many highly acclaimed children’s books, from picture books to middle-grade readers to retellings of classic tales and myths. She teaches at Vermont College of Fine Arts in the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults and is an active blogger. She lives in Aztec, New Mexico. Nasrin Khosravi (1950–2010) was a world-renowned Iranian artist who illustrated more than thirty-five books for children.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 3-6-This lyrical picture book was inspired by Khosravi's images for an earlier Farsi version of the classic Andersen tale. Writing in a free-verse style, Krishnaswami lets the amorphous, dreamlike illustrations set the tone for the story, which begins in a garden where dreams and time "can shift and change." The thumb-size Lina begins her journey when she is captured by a giant frog and then the story loosely follows the path of the original tale. She is swept along at the mercy of the winds and follows the tunes of the birds, and each new encounter is foreshadowed by her sung cries for help. This version has no marriage proposals and only the hint of a forever after when she disappears on the wind, carried on the back of a horse. Khosravi's layered acrylic and tissue on paper images are richly colored with golds, reds, and teals. Stencil-like organic shapes and delicately lined drawings are incorporated into the paintings; they shift and change then disappear only to reappear on a later page. The abstract nature of the artwork and text will be best appreciated by more mature readers although the cover illustration will lure fairy-tale lovers of all ages.-Carol S. Surges, formerly at Longfellow Middle School, Wauwatosa, WIα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

About this edition

• Publisher: Groundwood Books
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 155498324X
• ISBN 13: 9781554983247
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Khosravi Nasrin