From Book Review To Life Review

Jarry Fisher has recently been awarded The Pen Point's highest honor, 'Gold Point', for his eclectic picture book Outside In. I went straight to the 'New Arrivals' shelf in the library and settled on the nearest cushioned sofa, curious about the much talked about simple yet enchanting plot. Before I could open the book, the watercolor and ink illustrations captured five minutes of my attention. Award-worthy illustrator, James Jacobs, did Fisher's story justice. The clean ink over brushes of pastel watercolor brought out the liveliness of the characters and the peaceful surroundings of nature.

A young boy is pictured on the titled page coming out of a house. Then on the next two pages, the boy is picking flowers and plucking tall grasses from the field outside his house. As the pages turn, the boy is hard at work, transferring plants into pots and tying up the flowers with pretty red ribbons. After that, he goes to the edge of the woods and chases squirrels and birds. One by one he catches them with his bare hands and puts them in a big cage in his lawn. As soon as he is done, he gets a wheelbarrow from the backyard and wheels in the plants and little animals into the house. The last two pages of the book are the most delightful, with the boy holding his ailing grandmother's hands as she looks at the room with joy. The boy has decorated it with plants, flowers and all, and the room looks just like the field outside.

Fisher is a new grandfather and this book tells of his love for and relationship with his baby granddaughter. What Outside In does best is to show how young children understand what it means to make someone happy, in this case a grandmother. The love the young boy has for his ailing grandmother is encased in the simple act of bringing to her what she cannot have in her illness. A good picture book can say so much more than a novel. At one point, the young boy stops to rest on a stone after transferring the plants into pots. This, I feel, is the most touching part of the story. A tired child with little strength left continues work in the field for only one reason - to make his grandmother happy. Such is the love that even stubborn adults like me shed a tear or two.

Outside In is a book that is to be enjoyed by both the young and old, particularly grandparents and grandchildren. Family love and care shine through with Fisher's clever twist in his plot at the end and Jacobs' refreshing illustrations. This book is a definite must-read!