OSCAR'S TOWER OF FLOWERS

A very young boy finds joy in a difficult situation.

When Oscar’s mom brings him to live with his grandmother for a while, he is frightened and lonely. After his painful, emotional goodbye to his mom, Nana hugs him and reassures him. That first tearful night is so very difficult, despite the companionship of his toy monkey, the photo of mom and him next to him on the pillow, and a comforting thumb to suck. The next morning there’s a lovely breakfast, a jigsaw puzzle, and drawing with Nana and the cat. When Oscar carefully helps to water a drooping plant, Nana takes notice and brings him to a special store to purchase seeds, soil, containers, and tools. With lots of patience and Oscar’s careful tending, Nana’s apartment and terrace fill up with greenery, vines, and flowers. So many, in fact, that they gift all the neighbors with the lovely plants, making lots of new friends. The story is told entirely without words in a series of fully detailed, beautifully crafted, colorful vignettes of varying sizes. In them readers see and understand mom’s, Nana’s, and, of course, Oscar’s emotions in their faces and body language. Oscar and his family present White, with beige skin tones; Nana is refreshingly youthful looking. There are lovely surprises in the views of the apartments and their very diverse occupants before and after Oscar’s triumph. A lovely, joyful reunion with mom is comforting for young readers cuddled with their grown-ups.

Warm and wonderful.