Rosy's Garden

by Elizabeth Laird, Satomi Ichikawa

Visiting her grandmother in the country, Rosy learns facts and folklore about flowers as she presses flowers, gathers seeds, and makes potpourri

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Nature, Nonfiction

29 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Laird was born in New Zealand in 1943, the fourth of five children. Her father was a ship's surgeon; both he and Laird's mother were Scottish. In 1945, Laird and her family returned to Britain and she grew up in South London, where she was educated at Croydon High School.
When she was eighteen, Laird started teaching at a school in Malaysia. She decided to continue her adventurous life, even though she was bitten by a poisonous snake and went down with typhoid.

After attending the university in Bristol, Laird began teaching English in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She and a friend would hire mules and go into remote areas in the holidays.

After a while at Edinburgh University, Laird worked in India for a summer. During travel, she met her future husband, David McDowall, who she said was very kind to her when she was airsick on a plane. The couple were married in 1975 and have two sons, Angus and William.

Laird has also visited Iraq and Lebanon. She claims to dislike snakes, porridge and being cold but enjoys very dark chocolate, Mozart, reading and playing the violin in the Iraq Symphony Orchestra.

She currently lives in Richmond, London with her husband.

Reviews

[Capn · Rating 3 out of 5]

My conscience got to me. I started this review as a "4, rounded up", but to be totally honest it deserves a 3 from me. :(
The illustrations are lovely, the little crafts and recipes are sweet but not novel or particularly inspiring, the little tidbits about the flowers were marginally interesting (points for mentioning that McCrae of "In Flanders' Fields" fame was Canadian!), and I (of course) loved the hitherto unexpected page on the Alpine flowers! (Can't wait for Spring in the mtns! Woo hoo! Gentians and alpenrose and edelweiss when I'm high enough..! Heaven.).
Unfortunately, the story was.. well, absent. Why was Rosy coming to stay for the entire summer at her Grandma's? Was she trepidatious?

"But will the flowers come out before I have to go home?" says Rosy.
"Yes," says Granny. "Mother says you can stay for the whole summer if you want to."
"Oh, I do want to!" says Rosy. I do!"

What did Rosy and her parent or guardian (unpictured) talk about in the car, then? This kid bursts into Granny's kitchen:

Rosy skips into Granny's kitchen, and looks round. It's lovely - just as she remembers it. There are flowers everywhere,..

and the story just starts from there, without context.
My current theory is that she's an alien, just beamed down like Mr. Bean, and that's why she's unaware of the duration of her visit. Or, she's simply a figment of the old lady's imagination - maybe there was no marriage to Edward, and thus no grandchild, and this is all some tragic fantasy for a lonely elderly spinster.. Alright, I'm being ridiculous. But seriously - a rewrite that said, "Mum says I can stay until September! Is that true?" would resolve this easily. (I read a lot of picture books - I don't feel like I'm being overly critical).
It kind of reminds me of Gerda Muller's books like, "A Year in Our New Garden" or "A Year Around the Great Oak". Muller's illustrations are better, I think, and she manages to get more of a supporting plot to carry the facts along.
There's a bit about the Language of Flowers, which has always made me snort (what sort of secret messages were those Victorians sending?! Glum bunch! Not one flower with a cheeky "show me thine ankles" meaning, while every negative state and emotion are covered? Bah. I suffered through enough of that in The Language of Flowers, thank you very much).
Also, let's talk about the pressed violets in the Granny's locket from childhood sweetheart-cum-husband, Edward - that's it? Not a further anecdote about violets in a wedding bouquet? Or about the children of Edward and Granny, to tie the generations together into some sort of cohesive family story, at least?
I'm just being extra critical, because it has such a high rating (4.45 before I got to it), and I don't feel it's representative. It's not a bad little book, and certainly pretty (watercolours, like in Rainflowers), but I've got Naturkinder for floral and herbal craft ideas, and Magic From The Ground for entertaining herbal folklore already, plus The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies, and I'm looking forward to reading The Girl with the Green Ear: Stories About Magic in Nature on OpenLibrary.
EDIT: Completely forgot to mention the books I Ate Sunshine for Breakfast: A Celebration of Plants Around the World, and for the knee-high crowd, Wildflower. Excellent stuff for the budding botanist.

[Karen GoatKeeper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rosy goes to visit her Grandmother who loves to garden. This chapter book is full of information and poems about various flowers. There are a few craft ideas using flowers as well.
The illustrations are water colors. By it's nature water color softens images and adds a pastel hue. These are wonderful pictures of both individual flowers and of a garden in full bloom.
Being a gardener, this book is a delight to read. It is not one for many children. This book would work much better as a shared experience with a gardener so the child had an opportunity to go out to see some of the flowers written about.

[Julie Fischer · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a gardener myself I was delighted to read this beautifully illustrated book for children. Rosy visits her Grandmother and is introduced to all of Grandma's flowers. She has so much fun doing all types of projects with Grandma. The book is filled with songs, receipes, and fun activites. A favorite of mine.

[MaryJo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some very lovely illustrations of flowers

[Riani Halim · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite picture book about gardening, for the very beautiful illustration and heart warming story.