On the Other Side of the Garden

Starred review from December 18, 2017
Late at night, Isabel’s father drives her to her grandmother’s house and leaves her there with a big duffel bag. Her grandmother shows Isabel to her room. “My bedroom wasn’t my bedroom,” thinks Isabel, troubled and homesick. Three creatures—an owl, a frog, and a mouse—peer in the window at her. In a bewitching series of delicately etched blue and white spreads, the four take a long, moonlit walk (“They looked like pretty good guys”). The animals share their love for the countryside, and Isabel explains that her mother is overseas and her father is looking for work; they listen patiently. The next morning, in the bright sunlight, her grandmother’s welcome is warm: “There, on the other side of the garden,” she tells Isabel, “you might see some animals.” Buitrago’s story reaches deep into Isabel’s feelings of abandonment. Though a fantasy, it’s not one that wipes her difficult circumstances away. Instead, Buitrago and Yockteng (Walk with Me) imagine the kinds of comfort that might console Isabel most, and readers share in the beginning of her healing. Ages 4–7.

Starred review from February 1, 2018

PreS-Gr 1-The pair that created Walk With Me present a new exploration of coping with the absence of parents. A girl is deposited at her grandmother's country house by her father. While the woman appears reserved, objects in the girl's assigned bedroom foreshadow the identities of three creatures that will become friends-thereby suggesting a grandma in-the-know. The digital illustrations are initially rendered almost entirely in a dark blue/green and white palette. Quiet spots of color help readers to focus on the knowledgeable owl, curious frog, and hungry mouse that invite the youngster for a moonlit walk in the garden. The first person account, presented in a compact but capacious sentence or two per page, eventually reveals more about the protagonist's mum-who "went to live and work in another country" and her father, who is looking for employment. In sharing their perspective, the animals help the girl see her guardian as a lonely, kind person, and in the warm light of a full color morning, Grandmother welcomes her with hugs and nourishment. Buitrago and Yockteng exhibit a keen understanding of a child's interior life. VERDICT Those who feel physically or emotionally distant from beloved adults will take comfort in the idea that there are others who care. A subtle and affecting journey to resilience best shared one-on-one to pore over the spectacular artwork.-Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 15, 2018
A young child copes with the fallout of her broken family in Buitrago and Yockteng's (Walk with Me, 2017) latest collaboration.Isabel and her father drive to the country. She hardly pays attention to his words on the way over. Dropped off at her grandmother's house, she watches him leave. She observes her room that's not her room. At night, Isabel lies in bed and remembers her dad and the city, when she notices an owl, a frog, and a mouse staring at her through the window. In such a case, "all you can do is open it and talk to them." Buitrago's translated text hides complexity beneath its directness, which is traced with humor and charm. Together the girl and creatures take a nighttime stroll. She feels the cool grass against her feet, while the owl names the flowers and the frog calls out the stars. The mouse just wants to eat. Slowly, Isabel opens up about her family, her absent mother and now her father, and the grandmother she barely knows. It's a story in fragments. Yockteng's textured digital pictures start as moody snapshots in dark blue ink with occasional flecks of color, mirroring the girl's inner turmoil. More color creeps in as morning comes and the story nears its poignant finale. Grandmother, pale-skinned as her granddaughter and clad in work boots and jeans, waits by the door, ready to embrace Isabel. Her reassurances ("This is your house, too") say it all. Simply outstanding. (appendix) (Picture book. 4-7)

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February 1, 2018
Preschool-G Isabel's father drives her from the big city to her grandmother's home in the country, where she is to stay while he looks for work. On her first night, three animals appearan owl, a frog, and a food-obsessed mouseand they take her on a moonlit walk in the countryside. She talks to them about her parents' separation and the city she came from, while they tell her about her grandmother's kindness and the country landscape. The digital illustrations, which appear hand-drawn in a scratchboard method, are in a blue palette with the animals and the girl's nightgown the only other colors. As a new day dawns and Isabel's sadness begins to lift, the colors come alive, symbolizing hope and optimism about her new life with her grandmother. Observant readers will notice the owl-decorated bedspread, a frog planter, and the picture on the wall of two mice and a hunk of cheese, which will generate the question: Reality or dream? A hopeful book about a child's confusion and fear of abandonment.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2018
Spending her first night away from her parents, at her grandmother's house in the country, young city girl Isabel is visited by an owl, a frog, and a mouse who lead her out into the garden and help orient her to her new environment. Along the way she discovers small truths about the plants and animals they encounter and larger truths about her own family situation (her parents have separated, and her father is out of work). Colombian team Buitrago and Yockteng (Jimmy the Greatest, rev. 7/12; Walk with Me, rev. 5/17) establish a profound sense of mystery and quietude, and in that tranquility Isabel finds a place to process her feelings and open up. In a first-person narrative full of sensory details, she tells of her mother's new job in another country and the letters Mum sends to her. The animals listen and respond (except the mouse, who wonders repeatedly about food). Isabel returns to the house at dawn, and the illustrations, until now scratches of white on a dark blue background, blossom into full color in the morning sun. Grandmother is there, tending vegetables, and a new day beckons. A final Garden Inventory details the plants and animals the four friends encounter on their nighttime adventure. A tender meditation on the natural world and its physical and spiritual nutrition. thom barthelmess

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2018
An owl, a frog, and a mouse lead city girl Isabel into the garden on her first night at her grandmother's country house. There she discovers small truths about her new environment and larger truths about her family situation. Buitrago's first-person narrative, full of sensory details, works with Yockteng's illustrations (scratches of white on a blue background that blossom into full color) to establish a profound sense of mystery and quietude.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)