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debnanceatreaderbuzz's review
4.0
Trying to read all 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up can be a frustrating experience. It doesn't sound like a hard challenge, does it? After all, these are children's books. Right?
But what about books like Joseph's Yard? It's described as a classic 32-page children's picture book. Yet it was as difficult to find as if it were the Hope Diamond.
Well, maybe not quite that difficult. After all, I did obtain a copy last week. Happily. From Paperback Swap. Thank you for sharing this former library book from Tawas City, Michigan. I see now why it is on our 1001 list. Though I'm perplexed not to find it widely available. Perplexed and sad.
Joseph's Yard is the very short story of Joseph and his yard. Joseph cleans up his yard and puts a plant in his yard. The plant puts out a flower and Joseph loves it so much that he snaps off the flower. The plant withers away and Joseph is very sad. After winter, Joseph is surprised to see the plant has come back and another flower has appeared. Birds and insects and cats come to Joseph's yard because of the plant and Joseph becomes fearful and covers his new flower with his coat. Again, the flower dies. And, again, Joseph is sad. Winter comes again, and the plant returns once more. This time, Joseph leaves the plant alone and, soon, the yard is filled with flowers and insects and birds and cats. Joseph is happy.
Beautiful woodcut illustrations. Simple but poignant story.
But what about books like Joseph's Yard? It's described as a classic 32-page children's picture book. Yet it was as difficult to find as if it were the Hope Diamond.
Well, maybe not quite that difficult. After all, I did obtain a copy last week. Happily. From Paperback Swap. Thank you for sharing this former library book from Tawas City, Michigan. I see now why it is on our 1001 list. Though I'm perplexed not to find it widely available. Perplexed and sad.
Joseph's Yard is the very short story of Joseph and his yard. Joseph cleans up his yard and puts a plant in his yard. The plant puts out a flower and Joseph loves it so much that he snaps off the flower. The plant withers away and Joseph is very sad. After winter, Joseph is surprised to see the plant has come back and another flower has appeared. Birds and insects and cats come to Joseph's yard because of the plant and Joseph becomes fearful and covers his new flower with his coat. Again, the flower dies. And, again, Joseph is sad. Winter comes again, and the plant returns once more. This time, Joseph leaves the plant alone and, soon, the yard is filled with flowers and insects and birds and cats. Joseph is happy.
Beautiful woodcut illustrations. Simple but poignant story.
mat_tobin's review
4.0
I've always found Charles Keeping's art a challenge: his bold and powerful use of line and colour does not often sit easy with me as it glows and tears its way over the pages. Yet, undoubtedly, it is a style that stays with you long after encountering it and, I have found, the more I pour over it, the greater my appreciation for it grows.
Possibly more associated with illustrating the works of others (such as Sutcliff & Garfield), Keeping's use of oil and water (lithography) is striking, sometimes uncomfortable and haunting but always captivating. It is a style that many will dislike yet it stays with you long after its reading.
Joseph's Yard could be set within the London landscape of Keeping's youth. It is an environment bereft of the natural world in which gardens are flowered with brick and stone and iron where'no insects, no birds, no cats' are to be found. Only Joseph trades in his iron (reminding me of Jack and the Beanstalk here) in exchange for a plant does the natural world, slowly, painfully begin its journey back into its forgotten landscape.
It is the journey that Joseph goes through in order to successfully allow his rose to grow that is deeply moving and central to the story. Through trial and error, as if Joseph is only understanding the rules and role of nature for the first time, does his flower flourish.
Time and again Joseph fails to understand the relationship that his plant has with the natural world and himself - it is as if he is missing something from within that stops him from celebrating the miracle of nature. This may seem a simple story but I feel its message runs far deeper than it seems; it is steeped in myth and sings of our deep-rooted relationship with nature and with our constant battle to control it.
Keeping might not be for everyone but the message from this story should be. His art asks us to interpret the world in a different way to how we might usually do which is what makes Joseph's Yard such a powerful story in which art meets message with great profundity.
Possibly more associated with illustrating the works of others (such as Sutcliff & Garfield), Keeping's use of oil and water (lithography) is striking, sometimes uncomfortable and haunting but always captivating. It is a style that many will dislike yet it stays with you long after its reading.
Joseph's Yard could be set within the London landscape of Keeping's youth. It is an environment bereft of the natural world in which gardens are flowered with brick and stone and iron where'no insects, no birds, no cats' are to be found. Only Joseph trades in his iron (reminding me of Jack and the Beanstalk here) in exchange for a plant does the natural world, slowly, painfully begin its journey back into its forgotten landscape.
It is the journey that Joseph goes through in order to successfully allow his rose to grow that is deeply moving and central to the story. Through trial and error, as if Joseph is only understanding the rules and role of nature for the first time, does his flower flourish.
Time and again Joseph fails to understand the relationship that his plant has with the natural world and himself - it is as if he is missing something from within that stops him from celebrating the miracle of nature. This may seem a simple story but I feel its message runs far deeper than it seems; it is steeped in myth and sings of our deep-rooted relationship with nature and with our constant battle to control it.
Keeping might not be for everyone but the message from this story should be. His art asks us to interpret the world in a different way to how we might usually do which is what makes Joseph's Yard such a powerful story in which art meets message with great profundity.
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