By Jon Arno Lawson (author)
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Words would be completely superfluous to this beautiful and poignant picture book. A little girl in a red coat walks though the city hand and hand with her father. As he shops, chats to friends and navigates the route home, her eye is caught by flowers, flashes of colour amongst streets and scenes generally depicted in monotone.
She collects a bouquet, then presents her flowers to people and creatures they pass – a sleeping man, a mother and her children, a dog and a dead sparrow are all given a flower, until she has just one left. Rich in visual detail, this will open readers’ eyes to the beauty of the world we take for granted, to the delight children find in small things, and to the love between child and parent.
In this wordless, beautifully illustrated picture book from award-winning poet JonArno Lawson, a little girl collects wild flowers while her distracted father pays her - and their surroundings - little attention. Each flower the little girl gathers becomes a gift for a person or animal, and whether the gift is noticed or ignored, both giver and recipient are transformed by their encounter. An ode to the importance of small things, small people and small gestures, Footpath Flowers is a quiet but powerful testament to the joy that children can find in ordinary things and the mutual value of giving.
JonArno Lawson is a Canadian award-winning poet and writer who has published several works of verse. His collections for children include Black Stars in a White Night Sky and The Man in the Moon Fixer's Mask, and for adults, Inklings and Love is an Observant Traveller. He lives in Toronto with his wife and three children.
Born in Hamilton, Ontario, and raised in Dundas, JonArno’s most formative experiences as a child were the months he spent in Florida at the age of 8. Missing almost an entire year of school (which, luckily, he wasn’t forced to repeat), he spent his weekdays at the beach digging holes and collecting sea shells and coconuts, travelling in glass bottom boats, and visiting nature parks that had free-roaming monkeys and parrots. He wore a ship captain’s hat at all times, and a green pouch on his belt, in which he kept a small golden sword, dozens of ticket stubs, a musket ball, brass souvenir coins that bore the faces of various US presidents, a small British flag he found stuck in his fish and chips one day, and other similar treasures (which he still has and enjoys looking at). His formative influences, as a writer, were mostly songs - “The Gumdrop Follies” recordings of Jim Copp and Ed Brown, “The Irish Song” by Tom Lehrer, and “The Shape of Things” by Sheldon Harnick.
JonArno lives in Toronto with his wife, Amy Freedman, and his children Sophie, Asher, and Joseph. Sophie and Asher help JonArno by suggesting phrases, topics, and entire lines for his poems. Joseph, at three months, is too small to take part in this kind of cottage industry approach at the moment.
JonArno’s first book of poetry (and aphorisms) was published in 1997, helped in that direction by Canadian novelist Timothy Findley. When studying to teach English as a second language in 2001, he started to keep a notebook full of phrases and words he liked. From these notebooks, letters to his grandmother, and other odd scraps he’d kept over the years he assembled his first book of poetry for children shortly after his daughter was born. He’s been writing for children (and for adults) ever since. He often works while walking about, scribbling things down in a notebook he always keeps with him. Most of his last book was written at a lovely café called ToGo on Yonge Street in Toronto, but he also puts in many hours in his cold, messy basement office at home. He hates messiness, but doesn’t have time to both clean and write.
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In this wordless, beautifully illustrated picture book from award-winning poet JonArno Lawson, a little girl collects wild flowers while her distracted father pays her - and their surroundings - little attention. Each flower the little girl gathers becomes a gift for a person or animal, and whether the gift is noticed or ignored, both giver and recipient are transformed by their encounter.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed Footpath Flowers and determined it is suitable for children aged 3-6 years old
Footpath Flowers features in the following genres: Featured Books for 5+ readers, Recommendations, Featured Books for 3+ readers, Graphic Novels & Comics, Stories about Family and Friends, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational
Paperback, Hardback. £7.19, down from the £7.99 cover price. Not Available.
Footpath Flowers was written by Jon Arno Lawson and published by Walker Books Ltd
Footpath Flowers has 32 pages
£7.19, reduced from £7.99. Not Available.
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