SWEET PEA SUMMER

When Mom’s illness necessitates a hospital stay, Dad drives his young child for a summerlong visit with grandparents.

When the child, who narrates, struggles to concentrate on activities, Grandpa proposes helping with his garden—robust with veggies and flowers. He assigns his grandchild his “prized sweet peas,” and Grandma suggests entering them in the flower show at summer’s end. The child waters, deadheads, weeds, and fertilizes, as Grandpa’s taught. One morning there’s “something terrible”—the sweet peas have dropped their flower buds. The young gardener studies Grandpa’s books and tests solutions, protecting the vines from cool evening temps and hot summer days. The kid waters carefully, noting that sweet peas need “just the right amount of water around their roots.” Therein lies the mystery’s solution: Grandpa’s been inadvertently drenching the vines with “icy cold water” while irrigating his adjacent vegetables. Spared such shocks, the colorful flowers thrive, and blue blooms—the loveliest and most difficult—arrive, too. The gentle time-heals theme culminates with an award at the flower show and the sudden, unheralded arrival of the child’s parents, ready to reunite at home. Mitchell’s winsome pictures chronicle English townscapes, comfy, kitten-filled interiors, gentle hills, and a garden replete with small creatures to spy. Family members are White (and the grandparents, gray-haired); townspeople are diverse.

While the resolution’s a bit abrupt, engaging pictures enhance this successful, absorbing intergenerational tale.