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Monday, March 25, 2024

Kaiah's Garden, written by Melanie Florence and illustrated by Karlene Harvey. Scholastic, 2024. $$19.99 ages 4 and up


"Kaiah didn't want to be in this new house on 
a new street in a new town. She wanted to be at 
home, in Grandma's little house that suddenly 
felt very, very far away.
"

Moving from one place to another requires a determined effort to deal with the many changes it brings. Kaiah wakes to a grey morning that reflects exactly how she is feeling being so far away from her beloved grandmother. Her mother is impatient for her to get up for breakfast, despite Kaiah's reluctance to move at all. 

Instead of porridge, Kaiah would have her grandmother's warm pancakes. Instead of this new place, she would be back with her grandmother. As she sulks at the window, she suddenly hears a whispered suggestion from the voice of that same grandmother. 

"Did you forget what's in your treasure box?"

Kaiah races to her bedroom, takes the box from her dresser drawer, and gives it a hug. It is just the incentive she needs to venture outside with the treasures that remind her of days spent learning how to bead with Grandma. A beaded apple reminds her of the apple tree in the yard; a beaded sun warms her; a rose reminds her of the bees who visited the rose bushes there; even a tiny turtle brings memories of a rock in Grandma's garden. Each one soothes her soul with memories of the love and learning. 

"Kaiah looked in her bead box. Red and yellow and pink 
and green and purple and orange and blue. The colours of 
Grandma's garden shone back at her." 

A note on beadwork is appended. 

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