Alison Goldberg (Bottle Tops) and Jesse White (Mabel Meets a Black Bear) have achieved a picture-book trifecta: Eighteen Flowers for Grandma is a stirring ode to intergenerational family bonds, a gentle introduction to a Jewish custom, and an up-close look at the artistic process.
It's "art day with Grandma" for Sadie: they work side by side at their easels in pursuit of what Grandma calls "creative inspiration." But for Grandma, art making is no leisure activity: today's painting is her last assignment before she graduates from college the following week. It's an occasion for which Sadie wants to give her "a special gift of chai"--the word means "life" in Hebrew--like the necklace that says "chai" that Grandma gave her when she graduated from kindergarten. Sadie's search for the perfect gift leads her to experiment artistically with a lilac blossom, "but there is something about this painting that just isn't Grandma enough." Will Sadie find creative inspiration in time for Grandma's graduation?
Sadie's art-making process ("She dips and prints, dips and prints," and so on) is captured both in the text and in White's elegant illustrations, which prioritize lilac, chartreuse, and vegetal greens and, per the book's back matter, incorporate the artist's "own take" on Jewish paper-cutting, a "traditional form of Jewish folk art... made by cutting figures and sentences from paper or parchment." It all adds up to a soothingly nutritive reading experience. Too bad Sadie can't give Grandma Eighteen Flowers for Grandma, a fine choice for anyone looking to give the gift of chai. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author