My Baba’s Garden

 
★英國凱特格林威大獎得主席尼．史密斯（Sydney Smith）新作，繼《我說話像河流》後，和加拿大詩人喬丹．史考特再度聯手
★美國青少年圖書館協會（Junior Library Guild）選書
 
　　每天早上，爸爸載我來到阿嬤位在公路旁的家。阿嬤總是在廚房裡忙碌，她會為我端上好大一碗燕麥粥當早餐，裡面加了許多來自她菜園裡的菜。我們不太說話，她會指一指，我點點頭，她捏捏我的臉頰，我就笑一笑。阿嬤看著我吃，吃完後她就帶我去學校。每當下雨，阿嬤總是走得很慢，因為她在找路上的蟲子。放學後，阿嬤就帶我去她的菜園，把蟲子放進土裡。我問阿嬤這是在做什麼？阿嬤用手指沾了沾雨水，在我手心上畫了畫。
 
　　後來阿嬤搬離原本的家，來住在我家。阿嬤就住在我隔壁的房間，現在換我每天早上為躺在床上的阿嬤端一碗燕麥粥。我的爸媽都太忙，沒時間照顧菜園，但我知道阿嬤還留著她的種子。我知道我可以為阿嬤做什麼了……
 
　　加拿大詩人喬丹．史考特 （Jordan Scott）和獲英國凱特格林威大獎的繪者席尼．史密斯（Sydney Smith）曾以《我說話像河流》（I Talk Like A River）榮獲波士頓環球報號角書獎（Boston Globe-Horn Book Award）。本書是兩人第二度合作，喬丹．史考特從童年記憶出發，以第一人稱緩緩訴說與波蘭裔祖母之間的故事。祖孫倆或許沒有太多共同的言語，但從阿嬤充滿愛的燕麥粥，以及在早餐時與男孩的互動，情感不需多言便自然流露。安靜而深刻的圖畫中，彷彿能實際感受到故事中的氣息、味道、聲音，簡單的幾個畫面，便傳達出小男孩與阿嬤之間建立起的緊密連結，情感溫柔而動人，蘊含深刻力量。

The bond between a child and his grandmother grows as they tend her garden together.

A young boy spends his mornings with his beloved Baba, his grandmother. She doesn’t speak much English, but they connect through gestures, gardening, eating, and walking to school together. Marked by memories of wartime scarcity, Baba cherishes food, and the boy learns to do the same. Eventually, Baba needs to move in with the boy and his parents, and he has the chance to care for her as she’s always cared for him.

Inspired by memories from poet Jordan Scott’s childhood, with beautiful, dreamlike illustrations by Hans Christian Andersen Award-winning illustrator Sydney Smith, My Baba’s Garden is a deeply personal story that evokes universal emotions. Like Scott and Smith’s previous collaboration I Talk Like a River, winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, My Baba’s Garden lends wistful appreciation to cherished time with family.

A Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book
A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of the Year
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Horn Book Fanfare Book
A Booklist Editors’ Choice
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
An Evanston Public Library Great Book for Kids

Jordan Scott is a poet whose work includes Silt, Blert, DECOMP, and Night & Ox. Blert, which explores the poetics of stuttering, is the subject of two National Film Board of Canada projects, Flub and Utter: a poetic memoir of the mouth and STUTTER. Scott was the recipient of the 2018 Latner Writers’ Trust Poetry Prize for his contributions to Canadian poetry. I Talk Like a River is Scott’s first book for children. He lives in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island with his wife and two sons.

Sydney Smith is an illustrator of picture books whose work includes Sidewalk Flowers by JonArno Lawson; The White Cat and the Monk by Jo Ellen Bogart; and Town Is by the Sea by Joanne Schwartz, which was awarded the 2018 Kate Greenaway Medal and the 2018 Children’s Literature Award. He both wrote and illustrated Small in the City, which Kirkus Reviews called Extraordinary, emotional, and beautifully rendered. in a starred review. School Library Journal said The use of line, reflection, and perspective masterfully evoke a bustling gray city. in another starred review. Travis Jonker of 100 Scope Notes, a School Library Journal blog, said Small in the City is one of my favorite books of 2019. His accolades include two Governor General’s Awards for Illustrated Children’s Books and four successive New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year citations.