a child's garden, written and illustrated by Michael Foreman. Candlewick Press, Random House, 2009. $$20.00 ages 5 and up

"The boy's world was a place of ruin and rubble, ringed by a fence of barbed wire. In the hot, dry summer, the air was thick with dust. Faraway hills shimmered in the haze. The boy knew that cool streams flowed in those hills. He had once gone there with his father, but now the hills were on the wrong side of the wire."

The United States has a new national ambassador for children and their literature. Katherine Paterson is an amazing woman (I heard her speak twice at children's literature conferences) and an equally amazing writer. At age 77 she lives her life with verve and passion, and a great need to get books into the hands of children and their parents. We should all be ambassadors for such an idea!

One of the things she said when being interviewed about her appointment was this: “I want people to be reading about children of other places and other races and religions,” she said. “I think novels are a wonderful way to do that because you get in somebody else’s psyche and you see things quite differently than the way you see things simply through your own eyes.”

Picture books can do much the same thing and this heartwarming and heartbreaking book does just that! The small boy lives in the broken bricks and debris of war; but, one day he finds hope in the guise of a tiny plant. He knows just what to do to give it life and help it to grow. And grow it does, reaching its tendrils over the barbed wire fence and along it. Its life evokes promise to the children who come to play in its shade, and enjoy its beauty. When the soldiers on the other side of the wire notice it, they come and tear it down. The boy is heartbroken!

Plants and children have an uncanny ability to survive. In the spring he notices the plant has spread its roots to the other side of the wire, too far away for him to water. He also sees a small girl with a bucket tending to the new shoots. The boy worries that her plants will end up torn from the ground by the soldiers; but, they don't seem to mind the plant on their side of the wire. Now, he notices that the shoots are visible on his side, too. Soon, the wire is invisible. A seed of hope is planted for him, knowing that roots are deep and seeds spread, despite attempts to quash them. There is reason to dream of a better world!

Children are the victims of war. Ours hear about places in the world where wars are waged and hate rages. They rarely have occasion to think of the children who live in such war torn countries. Books give them the opportunity to see the way other children live. The young give us hope for the future, with their indomitable spirits and their love of life. This is a story that reminds us of the strength of the human spirit.