from Terri:

Sidewalk Flowers is a children’s book without words. The end pages are a treat…with abundant illustrations of flowers and birds across the pages. This book offers an opportunity for you and your child to become storytellers as you turn the pages of this quaint book. Sidewalk Flowers follows a little girl taking a walk with her father. Dad is preoccupied with his cell phone during their walk. The little girl is full of curiosity and notices many things on her walk including the little patches of beauty that grow in the cracks and crevices of the sidewalks. The illustrations look like they come out of the 1950s. The illustrator uses color sparingly but uses the color for emphasis as the story progresses. Sidewalk Flowers is a wonderful book for children but also for anyone who wants to tell the story as they see it. ( )

Reviewers disagree about who the people in the climax are. Mom and younger siblings? Aunt and cousins? Friends? The woman seems very emotional to finally see the little girl and the man (presumably father), more so than if they'd just run a few errands.

Oh well, that's the problem (challenge?) of wordless books - the reader gets to make their own interpretation.

In this case the rest of the story seems quite clear, and quite lovely. I do recommend the book to everyone who has any sort of appreciation for beauty, mystery, compassion, joy. ( )

On my list for Caldecott Winner, this is a stunning wordless book about a little girl bringing light, flowers, and compassion with her everywhere she goes. ( )

Sidewalk Flowers by Sydney Smith is a wordless picture book that looks at urban life through the eyes of a young child, which focuses on the beauty in the everyday environment. She goes through the city, collecting flowers and discovering new things as she carries along. It's focus is on mindfulness and finding beauty in the ordinary. ( )

Thanksgiving family read-aloud picture book binge.

In a wordless story, a little girl picks and distributes flowers, bringing color to what begins as a black-and-world.

Oh, so? ( )

This is a lovely wordless book about a little girl collecting flowers from between the cracks in the pavement and gifting them to others along the way home with her dad. I imagine they're in Toronto because the author lives here and because of the streetcar in one illustration! ( )

A wordless story about a girl who collects flowers on her walk home and, as she gives them away, her world becomes more colorful. The artwork is very nice, but I think reading all the gushing reviews made my expectations too high. It's quite nice, but ultimately, not particularly memorable. ( )

From the little girl noticing the specific colors blossoming around her based on the specific flowers she plucked, Sidewalk Flowers entails colorful symbolism by demonstrating her sight of optimism and kindness despite her distracted father walking alongside her and the distant strangers distracted to themselves. While plucking the flowers along her walk home and privately appreciating them, she also goes and gives them away. To a deceased bird and passerby-ers on the street, the message demonstrates a positive meaning of passing on kindness to others. Although this wordless picture book was expressive in its own symbolic way, I gave this book a 4/5 rating because of how vague the message may seem to children, who may not understand it right away without Guided Reading/Instruction. The picture book may have been meaningful in its display of choice colors, its theme centered on passing on kindness may not be so obvious to young readers, who may understand text in the literal sense rather than the metaphorical sense. The text may be more appropriate if read to children in the upper elementary school age groups, as they would have a better understanding/idea of the difference between metaphorical message and literal message. Nonetheless, the picture book’s message is one that can be shared and have an influence for any age group because of its relatedness to any person in any situation, on how impactful passing on kindness is. ( )

"A reminder that what looks like play can sometimes be a sacrament." -review on back of book, couldn't have said it better myself. Beautiful art and story. ( )

Genre: fiction picture book. I liked this book because it showed the dad and daughter walk the entire time, and it also showed the girl at all times in her red little dress. The little girl gives flowers to everyone she sees, and at the end, the day brightens up. I would allow my students to see this book and view what is happening. I would show them that it is good to be kind. ( )

This book follows a little girl and her dad walking through the city. The girl stops a few times to pick some flowers from the sidewalk. When she has collected a bunch, she decides to give one to everyone with a sad look as she passes by. I liked this book because it illustrates that being kind to others can have positive effects on the world. This is good for predicting. ( )

This book is a book about a little girl that finds flowers on sidewalk while walking with her dad in an all black and white world. She begins to find flowers everywhere and gives them to anyone she comes across. At the end of the story, her whole world has turned to color because of all the flowers. This book shares the beauty of being kind to one another. This book would be a harder book to look at for young readers because they might not understand the concept right away. ( )

A beautiful wordless story about a boy who picks flowers he sees growing in sidewalk cracks and other unexpected places, and then gives the flowers to others along the way.

A little girl goes on a walk with her inattentive father. She picks flowers along the way, then gives them to the people and animals she meets. A lovely reminder that small kindnesses can be very meaningful to those on the receiving end. ( )

To see this week's Wordless Picture Books, please visit www.readrantrockandroll.com

In this picture book, a little girl takes a walk through the city with her father and while on the journey, she decides to start collecting little wildflowers she discovers along the way. Her father is busy doing his own thing and is quite distracted. By the time they’re about ready to head home, she has collected a beautiful bouquet of flowers. What she decides to do with the flowers on her way back home is touching. Follow along in this beautiful picture book to see how sweet, caring, and creative she can be.

The story is touching and will help children understand the importance of giving and thinking about others. The illustrations were eye catching with the majority of the pages being black and white with splashes of color throughout. It’s definitely a keeper.

4**** ( )

wordless picture book
a little girl collects flowers on her walk with her distracted father. the flowers are given later as a gift
6 books

absolutely beautiful illustrations that tell an incredible story - simple but poignant. ( )

With these mesmerizing watercolor-and-ink illustrations, you don't even notice the lack of words.

graphic novel-like; there is a dead bird in the story - kind of surprised me. ( )

This is a wordless picture book. I have learned to love wordless pictures books and all of the possibilities they bring to the classroom. This book could bring up so many different conversations. Conversations about neglect, about the importance of being kind, and of course how no matter how small you are, the things that you do, and the gestures that you have towards people can have a huge impact. ( )

Sidewalk Flowers is a wordless children book by, JonArno Lawson. It tells a story of kindness by showing a little girl who is walking around the city with her dad. Her dad is so preoccupied with himself, that he doesn't notice that the girl is noticing the beauty that surrounds her. She then decides to start picking flowers from different places that they walk by. After she gathers a bunch of flowers, she decides to pass them out to the homeless man sleeping on a bench, a pigeon who has passed away, and even some to a dog. This story is a fantastic encouragement to call that we need to notice all the beauty that is surrounding us. ( )

No matter what age the viewer of this book will get something new from the book with each experience. THe writing promts surrounfing the story are endless; like the lessons the possiblities could go on for days. I would use this book for adjectives and writing test prep. ( )

The book starts out very morose almost depressing. As the little girl is walking with her father she pick up flowers and color starts to appear in the world. When she enters a park that has no color at all she starts leaving flowers and the park comes to life with color. The imagery for the book is really moving. ( )

A wordless picture book

A beautiful book for pondering the depths of gentleness, kindness, compassion

A little girl walks hand-in-hand with her father along city streets, waiting at a bus stop, and through a city park. Along the way, she pauses to pick up volunteer flowers that are growing in sidewalk cracks, in walls, and in other spots.

The flowers, held tenderly in her hand, become gifts to the small, the lonely, the forgotten, the unseen, and the loved. Her simple, sweet presents remind me of the humble, the innocent, and those who give love unconditionally.

The illustrations are done in sepia tones with black ink while the girl is wearing a red hooded jacket. The closer she gets to home and the more flowers she sweetly gives, the more color appears on each successive page. Sydney Smith uses pen, ink, watercolors, with digital editing. The illustrations are perfect for this tale involving the reader’s eyes and heart.

This book has been printed in 10 countries and 8 different languages, having won awards in both the English and the French versions.

Age Range: 4 – 7 Years

Awards:

In 2015, the French edition won the Prix Libbylit in Belgium for best picture book.

Won the Governor General’s Award for Literary Merit/Illustrated Children’s Books in 2015, English

The New York Times Best Illustrated Books List

International Board on Books for Young People’s (IBBY) 2016 Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award

Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year

Goodreads Choice Awards Best Picture Books

Author

JonArno Lawson has a BA in English Literature from McGill University. He is the author of thirteen books for children and adults. He has given a large number of workshops in children’s poetry, and taught children’s poetry in the Master of Arts in Children’s Literature Program at Simmons College, Boston, and at iSchool at UBC. He is a four-time winner of the Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Children’s Poetry. He lives in Toronto with his wife and three children. He can be found @ http://jonarnolawson.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

Illustrator

Sydney Smith was born in rural Nova Scotia, and has been drawing since he was quite young. While attending NSCAD University, in Halifax, studying drawing and printmaking, he began to realize he enjoyed illustrating children’s books. It allowed more freedom for creativity. He has illustrated a number of children’s books. He has won awards for a number of the books as illustrator, including an IBBY award for Sidewalk Flowers. He now lives in Toronto and works in a shared studio space in Chinatown “and goes to the library or the Art Gallery of Ontario on his breaks.” He can be found @ http://www.sydneydraws.ca/ ( )

This is a wordless book, but the illustrations bring us on a journey as a little girl collects flowers, and gives some of them to others, while walking through the city with her father. Her red hoodie stands out against the mostly otherwise black and white details of the scenes. The flowers are also in color, and as the story progresses, everything becomes more colorful. This book allows the reader to come up with their own words for the illustration led story.