The Forever Flowers - Hardcover

Rosen, Michael J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1568462735 ISBN 13: 9781568462738

Publisher: Creative Editions, 2014

Synopsis

In this tender story about the virtues of finding, keeping, and letting go, a young grouse is waylaid on her seasonal migration and carries her precious cargo to a new land. As the bird's favorite Forever Flowers grow from planted seeds to blooming flowers, she discovers how unexpectedly one can stumble upon happiness and breathe into the contentment of life's quiet moments, even amidst the winter's dark. When spring arrives again, though, the grouse must make a decision: should she stay or fly away?

About this title

About the Author

Michael J. Rosen is an author, illustrator, and photographer who has created more than 90 books for children and adults. He holds degrees in zoology and poetry and served for nearly 20 years as literary director of the Thurber House, a cultural center in the boyhood home of renowned author James Thurber in Columbus, Ohio. He lives on a farm in the Appalachian foothills of eastern Ohio.

Sonja was born in Iserlohn, Germany and is currently working and living as an artist and illustrator in Berlin.

From School Library Journal

Gr 1–4—There is a hint that this beautiful book will not resonate with its intended elementary-aged audience when its first page is headed "epigraph." Indeed, the stated themes of "finding, keeping and letting go" are hardly concerns for children, for whom every day is a new adventure and whose cognitive ability for reflective thought is a few years away. Rosen writes poetically about a young woodland grouse whose late migration is weighted down by the flower seeds she has packed into a little messenger bag—her attempt to capture the past. She falls into a river, is saved by a dog, and lives through the winter with him and his owner, never enjoying the beauty of that season because she is in such a melancholy funk about the end of summer. When spring arrives and the time comes to join her grouse companions, she trades one regret for another: What about her new friends? Danowski is an "analogy archivist" interested in the way drawings can spur human memory, and on her website, she describes their analog structure as accessible in any order. This book is unique in that the pictures were drawn first and Rosen's story was written as a response to the images. Danowski's pencil, ink, watercolor, and digitized full-page illustrations create a gorgeous, romantic woodland world, filled with the recognizable details and detritus of a life lived within it. Though lovely to look at, it's an additional purchase.—Lisa Lehmuller, East Providence School District, RI

About this edition

• Publisher: Creative Editions
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1568462735
• ISBN 13: 9781568462738
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Danowski Sonja