JonArno Lawson

This is part of my 365 Kids Books challenge. For an explanation see my review for [b:101 Amazing Facts about Australia|21332402|101 Amazing Facts about Australia (Countries of the World)|Jack Goldstein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394253825l/21332402._SY75_.jpg|25417728] You can see all the books on their own shelf.

The cover grabbed me. One of the worst things about cities and towns built to suit cars rather than people is the shopping center or show more mall. I like a street with a shop on it and with offices and housing upstairs. The reason people feel safe in older downtowns is the presence of people all the time, which I am delighted to see is coming back as a thing.

Any way, this is a lovely wordless book in which the energy of a young couple reinvigorates a neighborhood. It's a little refresh, not gentrification. It's lovely to see it play out. And there's a cat. Also, a refreshing lack of gender marking. Without words there's very little effort to define genders or relationships, there's just a couple of skirts. Just the warm feeling of people becoming closer across all demographics.

Library copy show less

A young girl has an eye for beauty and for flowers in this wordless picture book from Canadian author/illustrator team JonArno Lawson and Sydney Smith. Taking a walk with her distracted father, the girl passes through a gray city landscape, with colorful accents appearing occasionally. Finding flowers growing out of sidewalk cracks, steps, and buildings, she gathers these riches and also gives them away. By the end of her walk, the world around her is more colorful, and even her father seems show more more engaged...

Published in 2015, Sidewalk Flowers won or was shortlisted for numerous awards, including Canada's Governor General's Literary Award in the Young People's Literature — Illustrated Book category, as well as distinctions such as being named to the New York Times / New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books list for the year. I can see why, as the story idea, created by Lawson, is engaging and creative, and the artwork—so essential in a wordless book—is attention-grabbing, making good use of color and shadow, and using comic-book style panels to excellent effect. That being said, while I can certainly see why other readers have praised it, somehow I just couldn't warm up to it, despite its good qualities. I think I wanted to find it more meaningful than I did. In any case, tastes vary (and perhaps my reaction is as much down to mood at the time of reading, as anything else), so I'd still recommend this one to picture book readers who enjoy wordless narratives or who are looking for stories about how we walk through the world, and notice and interact with it. show less

I am not generally a big reader of poetry but I really loved this. My favorite aspect of Lawson's poetry is how much FUN it is to say them aloud. As I sat reading through this I had to keep stopping to read them out to my husband (who also appreciated them). If you love wordplay like "Bartleby startles me" and "All of a sudden"/"All love is sudden" check this out!

In this wordless picture book, a young child and their grandparent live behind the general store where they work. The grandparent is hunched over with a rather grumpy expression, while the child is more cheerful and open; when the grown-up chases off an alley cat stealing fish, the child puts a can of tuna out in the alley for the cat.

When the grown-up puts an APARTMENT FOR RENT sign up in the window, there's some interest, but no takers - at first. Eventually, a young couple move in, armed show more with cleaning supplies and paint. They fix up the apartment, and begin making little fixes around the store too, adding flower boxes, waving to the neighbor reading on their porch. Slowly, the grandparent softens; the four of them have dinner together (the child lures the cat inside with a trail of cat food), and "and friends" is added to the general store's sign, along with a rainbow flag out front.

Careful attention to all of the illustrations show the slow transformation of both the place and the people. show less