Enchantment in the Garden

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Enchantment in the Garden

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Overview

Shirley Hughes is best known for her stories for younger children. However, in Enchantment in the Garden she shows her talent for creating longer, deeper stories for older children to enjoy. This is the tale of a lonely young girl's magical friendship with the marble statue of a boy which comes to life, and whose friendship has a lasting impact upon her.

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ISBN-13:	9780099644415
Publisher:	Red Fox
Publication date:	10/28/2007
Edition description:	New
Pages:	64
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.22(d)
Age Range:	5 - 7 Years

About the Author

Shirley Hughes has written more than 200 books, creating enduring characters like Alfie and Dogger, who have thrilled children and adults alike with their tales of growing up and everyday discovery. Her many awards include the Kate Greenaway Medal and the prestigious Eleanor Farjeon Award for her services to children's literature.

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Editorial Reviews

"A storybook with echoes of Frances Hodgson Burnett. . ." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Tiny pen-and-ink drawings sparkle in the margins of this meandering fantasy about a lonely girl and a statue that springs to life. Hughes (Stories by Firelight) is a master of expressive line: awkward Valerie, her befuddled governess and a parade of 1920s dandies cavort hilariously in spot art accompanying the text. Unfortunately, less forceful, sketchy Italian landscapes predominate, and the story gets maudlin. The statue boy, Cherubino, is the son of a sea god; he has inexplicably been turned to stone. Come to life when Valerie whispers she loves him, he is thrown in an orphanage, then rescued by Valerie's socialite mother and put to work in the garden. On a seashore holiday, he runs away. Nobody but Valerie cares, and she is heartbroken. Cherubino returns one night to tell her he must pursue life as a sea god, and proclaims his love with an ungodly lack of eloquence: "By the way, sea gods can love humans sometimes, you know. Now and againevery thousand years or so. A very unusual human, that is." Then he is gone. And by most readers, he won't be missed. Ages 5-up. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Enchantment in the Garden is a romantic picture book fantasy that will appeal to children who are lonely (as who isn't sometimes) or who think their toys or imaginary friends can come to life (as who doesn't sometimes). The story shows us rich, neglected Valerie, who walks in a beautiful Roman garden with her governess every day. One day, while her governess naps, Valerie goes to her favorite fountain, and talks to her favorite sculpture, a boy whom she names "Cherubino." The boy is riding on a dolphin. The next day, the dolphin is still there, but Cherubino has disappeared. Where did he go? And what will become of him, and of Valerie? This is a haunting book whose lovely ending will stay with readers who don't let the picture book format put them off.

Children's Literature - Judy Silverman

Gr 1-4In this overlong picture book, Valerie, the lonely child of wealthy, busy parents, awakens the statue of a boy in the garden behind her old Italian home. He is her only friend, and she names him Cherubino. The next day the statue is gone, but a naked boy is laughing in the gardens and Valerie instantly recognizes him. Cherubino is sent to an orphanage, nearly wastes away, and is rescued by Valerie's mother, who takes him home to be the gardener's boy. Cherubino tells Valerie he is the son of a sea god, born thousands of years before to a human mother in a fertile part of North Africa. When Valerie tells him the area is now a desert, he flies into a fury and is determined to return to the sea. When the family goes to the seaside Cherubino escapes and stirs up a huge storm. Weeks later he returns and tells Valerie that he must go to be a god of the sea and protect the wild places, promising that someday they will meet again. Hughes combines lush vibrant paintings with ink drawings throughout this romantic, nostalgic book. While the illustrations capture the Italian landscape, the characters are flat and unbelievableCherubino has little more life as a boy than he did as a statue. Readers will long for the warmth and charm of Hughes's fine books for younger readers; they spring to life while this one remains cold and remote.Anne Connor, Los Angeles Public Library

School Library Journal

A storybook with echoes of Frances Hodgson Burnett—absentee parents, a lonely girl, an orphan who blossoms while working in a garden, children who meet clandestinely, away from the governess's eyes—from Hughes, who illustrated an edition of The Secret Garden: all the elements of an old-fashioned read, but precious and out-of-date.
This lengthy fantasy is set in Italy in the early part of this century, where Valerie is guarded by her governess. Her father tends the hotels and restaurants he owns; her mother lives for parties. After Valerie communes with a statue of a boy on a dolphin, the boy comes to life, taking the name Cherubino and revealing himself to be the son of a sea god. Disgusted by the conditions of the seaside, Cherubino leaves to take his place as a god of the sea, but he and Valerie are certain they will meet again. Hughes's illustrations of Italian architecture and landscapes are delightful, but children may not be engrossed by the travelogue-style descriptions: "a great, white palace set among palm trees and lush foliage, its domes and pinnacles melting into the blue haze." An obvious labor of love, the story has so many disparate components—Valerie's solitude, Cherubino as a stranger to be shunned, an ecological message about the cluttered seaside, romance, enchantment—that readers can't settle into it, or even believe in the connection between the two children.

Kirkus Reviews

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