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Growing an Artist
Growing an Artist: The Story of a Landscaper and His Son | John Parra
2 posts | 1 read
Four starred reviews! A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of the Year From award-winning artist John Parra comes a “heartwarming family story that underscores the value of creativity, passion, and hard work” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) that is “a love letter to sons and their fathers” (BookPage, starred review) based on his childhood experience. Today is a big day—the first time Juanito gets to help his papi on the job as a landscape architect! Throughout the day, Juanito sketches anything that catches his eye: a nest full of baby birds, a nursery with row upon row of plants and flowers, and more. Father and son travel from house to house, pruning, weeding, mowing, and turning overgrown and chaotic yards into beautiful spaces. A few of the clients don’t appreciate Papi’s hard work, like Juanito’s classmate who pretends not to see him. But Papi always feels pride in owning his own business and in a job well done. And at the end of the day, Juanito may get the chance to turn his artistic eye toward landscape design—just like his papi.
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mandarchy
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This book grew on me. After reading it outloud 18 times to K-5, the points kids took from it were: it's true, they could relate to feeling invisible, and they wanted to know more about homeroom. But what they seemed to really enjoy was designing their own landscapes.

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mandarchy
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I think John Parra is an illustrator/author worthy to follow. I loved his book Green is a Chile Pepper. Nominated for the 2024 WCCPBA, I'll be reading the tagged book to all my students in the next school year. I'll let you know what they think! #WCCPBA #endpapers