Aunt Mary's Rose - Hardcover

Wood, Douglas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0763610909 ISBN 13: 9780763610906

Publisher: Candlewick, 2010

Synopsis

A best-selling author and illustrator team up to cultivate a heartwarming, true story of a family linked through time by the tending of a beloved rosebush. 

Aunt Mary has a very special rosebush in her garden. She says a little bit of Douglas can be found inside it. And she tells him how the rosebush has a little bit of Douglas’s daddy in it as well. And, of course, a little bit of Aunt Mary. Douglas Wood’s tender memoir is complemented by LeUyen Pham’s charming and engaging illustrations. Together they show how caring for a treasured rosebush provides a connection between generations, and an enduring expression of attentiveness and familial love.

About this title

About the Author

Douglas Wood is the author of Grandad’s Prayers of the Earth, illustrated by P.J. Lynch, winner of a Christopher Medal, and Miss Little’s Gift, illustrated by Jim Burke, as well as the best-selling book Old Turtle. He lives in Sartelle, Minnesota.

LeUyen Pham is the author-illustrator of Big Sister, Little Sister and has illustrated many other books for children, including God’s Dream by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams. She lives in San Francisco.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3—Wood offers a slice of family history that exemplifies the intertwining of generations through tradition. On a visit to his great-aunt Mary's house, young Douglas is given the task of watering a large rosebush that was originally planted by his great-great grandfather and tended by four generations before him. Aunt Mary tells how her young nephews—Douglas's dad and uncle—came to live on their grandparents' farm ("Something had happened, and they needed a place to live...that's what families do. They take care of each other. They love each other."). She recalls some of the boys' shenanigans, their enlistment in the service during World War II, his uncle's death in the war, and his parents' marriage. Pham's soft watercolor paintings feature sepia-toned "photos" of the family during the 1930s and '40s, and color paintings of young Douglas, Aunt Mary, and his parents circa the 1950s. Except for the rosebush, the story is somewhat similar to that of countless families of the pre-boomer generation, and it provides a brief introduction to rural farm life during that era.—Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

About this edition

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0763610909
• ISBN 13: 9780763610906
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Pham Leuyen