This is a phenomenal children's book. The illustrations are very well done. A great-grandson tells the story of his great-grandpa's life with the help of drawings of artistically manicured shrubbery. This was very well done and sure to become a favorite among kids and parents alike.

In this mesmerizing picture book of intertwining generations, a great-grandson discovers the details of his Grandpa Green’s life by exploring a most unusual topiary garden. Like a cast of characters on a stage, Grandpa’s leafy green figures are symbolic representations of his life story—chicks hatching from eggs, a bushy cannon and parachuting soldiers; a giant wedding cake topped with a youthful bride and groom. Smith’s mixed media illustrations are both playful and brimming with meaning. In on...

This picture book by usual funny guy Lane Smith deviates from his usual fare to tell the touching story of a grandpa and his garden. The story opens with a giant topiary baby, made to look like it's crying. The texture and color of the greenery show us that the baby is a bush, not a person, but the text doesn't tell us who it is meant to portray. Rather, it simply begins, "He was born a really long time ago[.]"The second page gives us a better idea of what's going on. We meet our narrator, a lit...

The most stunning children's book about topiary I have ever seen. Edward Scissorhands has got nothing on Grandpa Green!

Art is of course fabulous (Lane Smith is a genius), but I think the story is a bit confusing for kids. Will wait a bit, then re-read- maybe it will strike me differently next time. Meanwhile, I'd venture this one is a picture book more for grown-ups- albeit a lovely one.

Maybe I'm wrong and more kids will be drawn into the images than I realize, but I'm having trouble seeing Grandpa Green as anything other than a father's or grandparent's day gift. It's a picture book for adults (which the dump will tell you itself), specifically male adults and I'm curious as to how engaging child readers will find it. That's okay though. Clearly Lane Smith is well into a point in his career where he can write picture books for whomever he likes, regardless of how small the int...

I'd much sooner have made this one the Caldecott winner this year that Chris Raschka's book. The story is told by a little boy who can be seen walking through a very unusual garden, and picking up various objects to put in his wagon as he goes. The real story is told by the illustrations, which are shaped like objects and events in the boy's description of his grandfather, the man who created the wonderful garden he is walking through. It took me a few pages to realize that the hedges and bushes...

Caldecott Honor 2012This one is so sweet. Told through the eyes of a great-grandson, he tells the life story of his great grandpa. His great grandpa loves horticulture and the illustrations to the story are all done using topiary garden figures. This book subtlety and cleverly expresses love, family, and a generation of life before now, in this heartwarming picture book.

11/26/11 What a beautiful book! I love the pen and sponge illustrations, and the story is really cute too.1/25/14 This is probably the best example of a layered picture book I have ever seen, with three stories in one. You have the rather simple narrative of the boy telling the story of his great-grandfather, all in the text. Then you have the story of the little boy tending and playing in the garden. And then there’s the story told in the topiary garden itself—a legacy left by an old man to his...

“He was a boy on a farm and a kid with chickenpox. He was a soldier and a husband, and a gardener, and most of all, an artist.” I have read many books that were either illustrated or written by Lane Smith and some of my favorite books that were both illustrated and written by Lane Smith was “It’s a Book.” But, I had discovered this new book by Lane Smith called “Grandpa Green,” which was a Caldecott Honor book and it was seriously one of Lane Smith’s most heartwarming books ever written!The

This book keeps you guessing what is happening. Is the plant the person the narrator is talking about or is it the little boy? Who’s telling the story? We see all these plants shaped into animals and people in a garden in fantastic ways. It seems the garden is alive and it has all these stories to tell. I don’t want to spoil the ending as it is rather clever the way it gets the point across. The artwork is creative and the pages feel like they are full of life and growth and curiosity. The story...

I absolutely love this story. The biography of a man told in topiary. The narrative is very sparse and simple, but so much of the story is told within the shapes, characters and creatures in the topiary garden. I love the relationship between the great-grandson and his great-grandfather and how he is aware of the man's past, if only the basic details. I love the warmth and familial ties that are woven throughout the green leaves and branches and it's a story that just makes me smile. We really e...

3.5 out of 5Grandpa Green is a heartwarming picturebook about a long, challenging yet ultimately fulfilling life of a great grandpa as told by his great grandson and whimsical, creative topiaries:

Grandpa Green is a 2012 Caldecott Award Winning picture book, found on the Caldecott Award website. I listened to it on You Tube. It was written and illustrated by Lane Smith. This book tells the entire life of a person through extremely creative and beautiful topiary illustrations and short descriptive sentences on each page. It covers almost an entire century! The illustrations and vocabulary date back before World War II. Although the sentences are short, there are vocabulary words and expres...

The pictures are beautifully done with clever aids to the storytelling that you must seek out.

Grandpa Green was born long ago. He grew up on a farm, got chicken pox in fourth grade, and kissed a girl in middle school. Though he wanted to be a horticulturist, he ended up going to war. There he met his future wife, whom he married when the war ended. Now Grandpa Green is getting old and starting to forget things. But he doesn’t forget the most important things, because the garden keeps his memories for him. Smith has created an amazing world in the pages of this book. It is a place where a...

I read through this at least four times - and enjoyed it more each time. What a sweet and touching story! There are lots of details to notice and put together - and they come together in such an amazing and awesome way! THIS should have won the Caldecott Medal for this year! Although I'm very glad it at least won a Caldecott Honor - otherwise I might never have known about it and read it.This is a picture book that works for any age. There are layers here - and great-grandparents can probably ap...

I realized after reading, rereading, and reflecting on Lane Smith's latest book, Grandpa Green, that I’ve spent more time considering (and, at times, being confounded by) Smith’s last two releases than the last two books from pretty much any author. His last outing, It’s a Book, was a genuinely hilarious crowd-pleaser with a catch - an insult punchline featuring a word (jackass) that led to librarians everywhere getting the vapors and wondering where they could hide the thing (my nearby public l...

In honor of Grandparent’s Day, I re-read a favorite Lane Smith picture book, Grandpa Green. Lane Smith is most notable for his illustrations (like the ones in James and the Giant Peach and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs) but he has also written a lot of great picture books, such as John, Paul, George, and Ben and The Happy Hocky Family.In this book, a great-grandson recalls the events of his horticulture-loving great-grandfather’s life. The simple, straightforward sentences delightfully...

I was excited when I watched the book trailer for Grandpa Green. The illustrations are wonderful. The combination of brush and waterproof drawing ink, watercolor, oil paint, and digital paint between the characters and the garden were very nicely done. I am not really sure if the prominently green book will appeal to children. In all honesty this book seems like a story for adults. There is one particular illustration that just doesn't seem like it fits in a children's book. The garden looks lik...