Garmann's Summer by: Stain Hole

The illustrations in itself was what caught my attention. Just the cover page is abstract and eerie and makes you wonder who this child is and what his story is. There is so much expression in all of the faces that really made me empathize with each picture. The pictures are so realistic, it almost looks like the author took pictures and cut and pasted them onto the page. The pictures are almost "too" realistic for little kids... I understand why the author chose to put old people in many of the illustrations, but I think for some kids it might scare them. However, that is the point of the entire book: No matter what age you are, everyone is always afraid of something. This book is about a little boy who is trying to understand different things in his small world. He has three old aunts that talk to him about life and death, about starting school, about traveling and all different things. It's interesting to see all the different view points. You see from Garmann's (the little boy) view point that he is afraid of things like going back to school and whether he will lose a tooth or not, or what it's like to have butterflies in your stomach! Whereas, for the older aunts you see from their point of view that they are afraid of trudging through the snow with their walkers in the winter or where they will go when they die. From the mother's point of view you see that she is scared she will not be able to protect her kids at all times when she says "I'm scared of Garmann crossing the main road on his way to school". There is a strong message in this book that many people have a difficult time comprehending. It's a great book altogether.

These are just a few examples of how serious the content is in this book. Kid's are smart, and they do ask these kind of questions about life and death. I think this is a great children's book that educators, parents, teachers can use with their kids to help them understand that all people are scared sometimes and life and death is apart of living. I would know your students before reading this book, in case some of the subject content is too scary for them to talk about in school.