The Night Gardener by Terry FanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
THE NIGHT GARDNER
BY: THE FAN BROTHERS
PUBLISHED: SIMON & SCHUSTER
YEAR: 2016
AGES: 4-8
GRADES: P-3
PAGES: 41
WORDS: 263 words
The Night Gardner is an example of a picture book whose story seems completely inseparable from it’s illustrations. The Fan brothers created a truly cohesive story with this beautiful book. But let’s see what happens when we take the pictures away from the story. Does it stand alone well? Or does it fall like a one legged ladder?
THE NIGHT GARDNER
BY: TERRY & ERIC FAN
P1-P2: Copyright
P 3: Acknowledgements
P4: Illustration.
P5: Title page
I can almost hear a soothing relaxing melody playing as I flip through those first pages of credits. Note how much space is given for the illustrations with the double copyright page being a full spread that introduces the town before the story even begins. The acknowledgments page gives us a clue to the mystery, with page four almost starting the story before the title page on page five. Page five is another full spread offering yet more eye candy.
These teasers in the credits slow the reader down. We don’t blow past these illustrations as we might with other books. I’ll be sure to suggest this is a book to study for any illustration friends I’ll make in the future. But for now let’s move on to our study of the story.
I only mention all the above ponder how this may affect their page count when it came to selling the story to an editor. There are less than three hundred words in the narrative but it goes past the standard 32 page suggested limited. I’d like to interview The Fan Brothers about their publication process with this book.
Most of the story is combination words and illustration pages. Very few words with very big illustrations. So this should be fast.
Act one of this story began in the credit pages with the illustrious. By the time the story is being told we’ve arrived at our inciting incident and act two.
P6-P7
William looked out his window to find a commotion on the street. He quickly dressed, ran downstairs and raced out the door to discover . . . .
P8-P9
The wise owl had appeared overnight, as if by magic. William spent the whole day staring at it in wonder,
P10-P11
.and he continued to stare until it became too dark to see.
That night he went to sleep with a sense of excitement.
P12
That following morning,
P13
William was not disappointed.
P14:
Each day William discovered a new topiary. Next was a friendly rabbit,
P15:
.followed by a pretty parakeet.
P16:
.and then a playful elephant.
With each new sculpture, the crowds grew and grew.
P17
Something was happening on Grimloch Lane.
Something good.
There is a rhythm to way the topiary are presented; adjective noun in few words. But the words selected give you
 |
| Terry and Eric Fan (not sure the order) |
an idea as to the mood these discoveries created in the town. A friendly rabbit outside of a worn down home; a pretty parakeet along a small street with a busted fence and weedy sidewalk; a playful elephant right before mentioning that “something good was happening to the town”. It is as though the sculptures are presenting new adjectives to the town itself, something besides “grim”.
But see . . . I referred back to the illustration for that explanation. Without any verbal discussion of what the town was like before, and without any verbal description of their locations the illustrations really are part of the narrative here.
So if I’m reading that without the pictures and know what those words mean I can still see and feel that it’s charming and surprising to find surprise art everywhere in town. But I wouldn’t know how moving it is to the people in town.
P18
The next day, William dashed out of his home.
P19
And followed the crowds, only to find…
P20-P21
.the most magnificent masterpiece yet!
P22
Festivities continued long after the sun had set.
This may seem like a stand along scene. But it shows the writer’s craftsman ship. In few words he’s dazzled us and explained why William did something unusual.
Every new turn must moves the story along. And here the writer gives us just that. It’s not just another “adjective-animal”. This one is “the most magnificent masterpiece yet!” This one triggers a festival! This one causes our protagonist to stay out late and allows Act Three to happen.
P23
As William was about to head home,
P24
He spotted someone unfamiliar.
P25
Could it be?
P26 - P27
The gentleman turned to William. “There are so many trees in this park. I could use a little help.” It was the Night Gardener!
Without the illustrations we don’t know that William followed this man down a dark alley and into the park. Kids! Don’t do this! Please! Not every unfamiliar stranger is a charming night Gardner out to spread hope and cheer!
P28-P29
Under the light of the full moon, they worked deep into the night.
P30
William awoke to the sound of happy families walking by,
P31
And a gift from the Night Gardener.
P32 - 33
The whole town had come out to admire the Night Gardner’s - and William’s - hard work.
P34-P35
Over time the leaves changed . . .
It isn’t put to words just how much the town was changed. But that is bare bones story telling. We have an inciting incident. Something happens that causes people to move in ways that hadn’t been moving before. The movement causes changes in heats and minds.
P36 - P37
.and then fell, until there was no evidence that the Night Gardener had ever been to Grimloch Lane.
P38-P39
But the people of the small town were never the same.
P40-P41
And neither was William.
The story loops back to the beginning but everything and everyone is different down. In this way William isn’t the only protagonist. The whole town of Grimloch when on this journey with him.
It’s possible that every individual in town had their own act threes triggered by the events of the first few pages of this story. But William is the one who gets a gift directly from the Gardner and becomes the new Gardner.
MY TAKE-AWAY
Illustration: It’s hard to separate this story from it’s illustration because so very much of the story is told through it’s pictures. Without the pictures you don’t know that William is an orphan and lives in a clearly neglected orphanage which is where the first topiary - the owl, appears on page eight and nine. Without the pictures you don’t know that the other topiaries were appearing in other neglected parts of town. The backgrounds of topers are all rundown buildings or neglected green spaces with high grass and tires or broken fences. Not town hall, or a city square but perhaps places the people were forgetting to look at or care about. The illustrations also offer clues as why the Night Gardner chose the few animals. It’s a fun game to play with the kids, trying to guess why he chose the owl, the cat, and the dragon.
As the story continues you see people starting to look at and fix up those places. The house with the rabbit is being painted and his roof repaired the second time we see it.
Then comes the dragon in the park. Without the illustration you miss the Asian family standing in the shade of great green dragon. They are clearly the only minorities in town and they are being surrounded by people. Perhaps they too were being ignored and neglected by their community. They have a pig and a chicken which suggests a rural background in this town. They also have a shy son who isn’t playing with the others.
At the end in the park we see some other minority groups creep out of the shadows of the trees and join the community in celebrating the art all around them.
At the beginning of the story every panel was black and white, almost noir and all the people were pale. But on page P38-P39 the spread is not only full of colorful background, but people of color coming out and enjoying the town. The yards are cut, the homes look nice and the entire town looks more welcoming and modern. Seeing this makes the story even more heartwarming that it was as simple bedtime story. Certainly a study in illustration for anyone looking to try their hand at it.
Story:
I love this story! Though the narrative leaves heavily on the illustration I would not call this a one legged ladder. you could read just the narration alone and still have a pretty pleasant story. I'll say it's more like a stencil. The narration tells you the outline of the story, but the illustration fills in the rest. Without the illustration it’s a barebones hero’s journey story arch. But with the illustrations is a charming, heartwarming story I’d be happy to read to my little girl every night. The short sentences broken up across the panels slows down the reading of this story. It makes it a fitting bedtime book. The reader must read it slowly, and allow the little listener to take in all the pictures.
Which brings us too . . .
THE RE-READ
I can already tell that you my daughter is going to love this story. But I'll be right back with her review!
Reading The Night Gardener again with my daughter meant reading it much more slowly. She's only two and didn't care about the story much or the words. She didn't pick up on the new vocabulary words. She was wholly and completely interested in the pictures.
But reading it with her meant I noticed the cat lady. It was her house where the cats were, and in the later pictures she come out to see every tree. Cat ladies are known to be reclusive. I simply hadn't thought about her until my daughter pointed out the cat in every picture.
My little girl also has an eye for flowers. So it was thanks to her observation that I noticed people using flowers, and plants to decorate on the last page. There was really so much to look at in this book that she didn't want me to turn the pages. She just wanted to sit and look.
Do you have older kids to share your stories with? Please comment their reactions to this story below and add to the conversation!
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If you like my analysis of the story, or if you think I’ve over looked something please consider living a comment. Any feedback is welcomed. You can find on twitter at PB@Jellyphish or learn more about me on my website pbyeary.com. Thanks for stopping by
I’ll see you on the next page!