When young William wakes up one
morning, something truly magical has happened outside of the Grimloch Orphanage.
He is amazed to find that during the night, what was an ordinary tree has been
transformed into larger-than-life topiary of an owl! Each day brings a new
delight in the form of an animal topiary, including a cat, a rabbit, a
parakeet, and more. Something truly incredible is in the night air.
After tree after tree is transformed,
William starts to wonder who might be behind the wondrous happenings on
Grimloch Lane. One night, he spots someone unfamiliar walking into Grimloch
Park, and follows him to find a man with a kind smile and a mustache like a
mop, carrying a very tall ladder: “The gentleman turned to William. ‘There are
so many trees in this park. I could use a little help.’ It was the Night Gardener!” As an orphan (which is only given away by
looking closely at the illustrations) William has found a home in the night,
trimming topiaries alongside the Night Gardener.
The illustrations are truly
magnificent, a cross between detailed pencil drawings and lush greens and
blues—colors that remind the reader of the twilight hour and evoke the mystery
behind the Night Gardener and his garden, which is in the public eye. The
townspeople gather each day to marvel at what new animal topiary has joined
their neighborhood, and young readers will have a fun time poring over all the
detail in the illustrations. Eventually, the Night Gardener leaves William a
pair of shears, passing on the task of transforming the trees on Grimloch Lane.
As the town is transformed, so, too, is William.
The creators of The Night Gardener are brothers who live in Toronto, Eric and Terry
Fan. When asked who drew the illustrations and who came up with the story, they
say that the book was a complete collaboration between both of them in both
words and illustrations. When asked where the inspiration behind the Night
Gardener came from, Eric said that the character of the Night Gardener was
inspired by their father. He says, “The earliest DNA for the
story can probably be traced back to our childhoods. Our dad always had a great
love of trees and nature and bonsai, having grown up in the Taiwanese
countryside. I think living in Toronto, one of the things he missed most was
nature and being outside. I can see now that he tried to balance that love of
nature with the cold Canadian winters, and so our house was always filled to
the rafters with plants and trees. It was a veritable jungle.”
The Fan Brothers are a new literary team whose
collaborative skills are seamless, and whose talent is not to be missed. In The Night Gardener, Grimloch Lane is a
place where community comes together, where there is time to “stop and smell
the roses.” The Night Gardener
reminds us that we should not lose that sense of wonder that children so
innately possess.
To learn more about the Fan Brothers
in an interview, click here!
Looking for a signed copy of this book? Lemuria has them!
This article originally appeared in The Clarion Ledger.
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