Sidewalk Flowers is picture-book perfection. Not a word is "spoken"; Sydney Smith's exquisitely inky, watercolor illustrations are all that's needed to animate JonArno Lawson's simple story of a little girl accompanying her preoccupied father on city errands.
In her red hooded jacket, the child is the only splash of color in a neighborhood that's washed in grays and black, until she begins spotting yellow dandelions and multi-colored glass vases and an occasional flowered dress. Her kind-looking--but distracted--father hurries her along, but can't stop our small heroine from noticing every valiant weed squeezing through sidewalk cracks. Nor is he aware when she begins bestowing her posy on friendly dogs, dearly departed birds and old men sleeping on park benches. No matter. She is content and self-contained, with no need for permission or recognition. Young children and their busy parents will adore this sweet--though never precious--slice of a child's day. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor