#blogbookaday: The Digger and the Flower

Summary:  “From the acclaimed author/artist of Beyond the Pond and Rulers of the Playground comes a breathtaking new book with a powerful message about the environment, perfect for fans of Peter Brown’s The Curious Garden and Kadir Nelson’s If You Plant a Seed.

Each day, the big trucks go to work. They scoop and hoist and push.
But when Digger discovers something growing in the rubble, he sets in motion a series of events that will change him, and the city, forever.” (Taken from Goodreads)

Review: Digger loves to dig and works very hard every day scooping and digging to build tall buildings, roads and bridges, until one day in the midst of all that dust and rubble he finds an unexpected surprise – a flower growing, resilient among the construction site. The flower changes digger forever as he does his best to protect it from all the building. I enjoyed the illustrations the most in this book with all the growth and building done in the city in bold black and gray tones, while the construction vehicles are bright colors. And I loved the texture of the illustrations with all the pointillism printed on the ground, the buildings and the construction vehicles.

Personal Reaction: Without giving too much away, there was one spread that shocked me, which is exactly what it’s supposed to do and I would be interested to see how young children would react to it – whether or not they see it as good or bad (and it would make a great discussion point). But, overall, I think this would be a great story for Earth Day about understanding the importance of growth and development while at the same time seeing the importance of green space. A perfect book to share in April with preschool to elementary school age children that can be paired well with the titles mentioned in the description above from Goodreads.

Title: The Digger and the Flower
Author: Joseph Kuefler
Illustrator: Joseph Kuefler
Publisher: Balzar + Bray
Publication Date: January 23, 2018

This is a new idea I’m trying on my blog this year that was inspired by @donalynbooks and @heisereads – to provide a brief review of a picture book every day of 2018. You’ll get a brief summary of the story, a review of the content, illustrations and theme, my personal reaction to the book and all the pertinent publication information! Enjoy!