Wednesday 6 June 2007

A Bloom of Friendship: The Story of the Canadian Tulip Festival by Anne Renaud. Illustrated by Ashley Spires.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketPublished by Lobster Press

A Bloom of Friendship is the second title of the My Canada series by Lobster Press. The book provides the history behind Canada's Tulip Festival - the largest Tulip Festival in the world - and how it all began with a gift a thanks in 1945. That was the year that Princess Juliana of the Netherlands presented Ottawa with 100,000 tulip bulbs to express appreciation for providing a safe haven for Holland's royal family during World War II and also in recognition of the role of the Canadian Forces in liberating the Netherlands. Each year since, Canada has been given the gift of 20,000 tulip bulbs which are planted in around Ottawa.

By use of wonderful photographs, exquisite illustration and a colourful and eye catching layout, the story is brought to the reader in a way that is guaranteed to hold their attention. The Instant History Facts posted throughout the book were an instant hit with me and I simply loved the inclusion of imagery and newspaper clippings from World War II.

This book is a great read and highly recommended. The age is 8+ but if my experience is anything to go by, it's a fun and informative read for any age.

The first book in this series is Our Song: The Story of "O Canada", the Canadian National Anthem written by Peter Kuitenbrouwer and illustrated by Ashley Spires, and the third is Our Game: The History of Hockey in Canada written by Dave Stubbs and illustrated by Neal Portnoy which is also available in french under the title: Notre Sport: L'histoire du hockey au Canada..

Illustrator's website: http://www.ashleyspires.com

Canada's Tulip Festival site: http://www.tulipfestival.ca/

1 comment:

Treasures By Brenda said...

It is an amazing book. I love it and I read it as an adult looking for more information about the tulip festival. You can read my review of it at A Bloom of Friendship. I would be thrilled if you left a comment with your opinion of the book. I will be sure to check out the other two that you recommend here!

Brenda