Pistes d'exploration

Take a picture walk and discuss the main characters and the setting. What is the role of the child in the red hoodie?

As you browse the pages, list any questions that arise. Reread, looking for possible answers. Notice details in the illustrations that support your ideas.

Observe the use of black and white and colour throughout the illustrations. How does the use of colour affect the mood of the story?

Write about or draw your connections to the characters, setting and events. Discuss which connections help you better understand the story.

Take a picture walk and discuss the main characters and the setting. What is the role of the child in the red hoodie?

Observe the use of black, white and colour throughout the illustrations. How does the use of colour affect the mood of the story?

Discuss your own route when walking to school or to the park. What beautiful things can you observe along the way?

Draw a series of 10 black and white panels to show how you embellish your world (as does the girl with the red hoodie). Similarly, add colour where you see beauty or where you can have an impact.

The Man With the Violin, Phileas's Fortune: A Story About Self-Expression, How to Heal a Broken Wing, TheFlower

Mots-clés

Picture book , character , city life , community , family life , flowers , generosity , making a difference , point of view , setting , wordless book

Commentaire descriptif

Finding beauty in unlikely places; making something from nothing; paying attention. These themes are shown in satisfying images depicting a father and child running errands, meeting people—and finding pretty weeds that grow in the most inhospitable places. Monotone illustrations use strong, loose lines, deep shadows and subtle shading to create detailed backgrounds of dense city streets. Colour is restricted to the child’s bright red hoodie, and the items that catch her notice: dandelions beside a bicycle, fruit displayed outside the greengrocer’s, the bright pattern on the streetcar passenger’s dress. As they make their way with a bag of shopping, Father is often on his cellphone, but his hand is always there for holding. The child’s collection of weed-flowers grows. Colours begin to infuse the images as the child disperses her flowers. She honours a dead bird and decorates the collar of a friendly dog. Arriving home, she leaves a trail of artfully placed flowers among her family: in Mother’s hair, Brother’s pockets and the baby’s stroller. Potent and lovely, this story will uplift readers of any age.