In Eighteen Flowers for Grandma, a young girl, Sadie, commits to finding the perfect expression of gratitude for her artist grandmother. After years of art making and study, Grandma is about to graduate college at the age of seventy-eight, and Sadie hopes to find a way to congratulate her that embodies the creativity her grandmother has always encouraged. The chai necklace that her grandmother gave Sadie at her kindergarten graduation becomes the focus of her search. The two Hebrew letters, denoting “life,” convey how learning takes place over an entire lifetime.
Sadie’s special bond with her grandmother revolves around art. Side by side at their easels, they work together, with Grandma emphasizing that different media will offer “plenty of options for creative inspiration!” That message resonates with Sadie when she thinks about how her special gift can acknowledge both Grandma’s accomplishment and the time they have spent with paint, tissue paper, fabric, and their own individual visions. When Sadie uses her palm to stamp egg shapes, Grandma comments, “You are so creative. I love learning from you.”
Artists observe the world around them. When Sadie sees flowers, she is inspired to use them as the motif for her project. But her initial attempts are never quite right; they fail to capture the scope of her idea. Flowers pressed in wax paper, dipped in paint to make a stamp, or rendered in cardboard and embellished with buttons are all beautiful, but they still do not measure up. Art is hard work!
Sadie’s grandmother has modeled the joy of creativity — as well as the persistence that must accompany that joy. Even though inspiration can be cultivated, sometimes it comes unexpectedly. When her grandmother describes a quote from artist Marc Chagall about how flowers represent life, Sadie is able to tie together all of her ideas and add a new element.
Just as Alison Goldberg narrates Sadie’s development as an artist, Jesse White visualizes it in colorful, flowing images. Some illustrations depict the implements and materials Sadie uses, each item carefully outlined and given its own significance. Pencils, buttons, and bottles of glue are as intrinsic to the story as the characters themselves. Sadie’s facial expressions demonstrate her various moods. In other scenes, the young artist is drawn at different angles, occupying different sections of the page. White also integrates traditional Jewish designs of paper cutting throughout the book.
This highly recommended book includes an author’s note, background information, and a chart of the Hebrew alphabet.
Emily Schneider writes about literature, feminism, and culture for Tablet, The Forward, The Horn Book, and other publications, and writes about children’s books on her blog. She has a Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures.
