posted on 03 Sep 2018

The Flower by John Light, illustrated by Lisa Evans

In a small room, in a big grey city full of sad and colourless people, lives Brigg who works in a library ‘where dangerous books were stored’. One day he comes across a shelf of books hidden away in a cellar and marked ‘Do not read’ – which of course means he’s instantly fascinated and he takes the book home with him.

And what did he find there? Flowers; beautiful flowers bursting with colour and this started him thinking – why are there no flowers in the city he lives in? He wanders the streets and searches the shops looking for any sign of flowers and, in a junk shop in the old part of town, he finds what turns out to be a packet of seeds.

Following the instructions on the packet he plants his seeds and waits for them to grow. And soon it did – curling up out of the mug he used as his planter and shooting fresh green leaves and ‘at last the plant flowered. Brigg was overjoyed.’

And then – disaster! The automated house cleaning system sucks up the plant as rubbish. Brigg is distraught and goes off in search of more flowers, even if they are only pictures. However, on the outskirts of the city he discovers the huge dust heaps the city has created and there was his plant. And, joy of joys, it was growing and spreading.

“And he wondered how long it would take to fill a city with flowers.”

This delightful little fable depends on John Light’s spare, carefully chosen words working in tandem with Lisa Evans’ beautiful illustrations – some of which are full page, others double spreads and some framed by white margins. This tale of the need humans have for colour, beauty, nature and art is never didactic – quite the opposite in fact – and maintains an atmosphere of enigma and deceptive simplicity. Ultimately this is a story of the triumph of optimism and this is perfectly captured on the final page where no words are needed to enhance the drawing of a hugely smiling Brigg framed by pot plants as he looks out of his window.

The author, John Light,  comes from a scientific, academic background but is now a full-time writer, artist and publisher. As well as being a children’s author, he also writes science fiction for adults. Lisa Evans originally studied illustration at Bristol and moved on to qualify in children’s book illustration at Cambridge.

This lovely large format hardback from Child’s Play was first published in 2006 and is now also available in paperback that can be ordered from their website.

Terry Potter

September 2018

(Click on any image below to view them in a slide show format)