Children's Fiction Multigenerational
Painted Fences
- Publisher
- Heritage House Publishing
- Initial publish date
- Jun 2021
- Category
- Multigenerational, Military & Wars, General
- Recommended Age
- 4 to 8
- Recommended Grade
- p to 3
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781772033526
- Publish Date
- Jun 2021
- List Price
- $19.95
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781772033519
- Publish Date
- Feb 2021
- List Price
- $19.95
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
A charming and evocative story within a story, exploring themes of wartime resourcefulness, local history, friendship, and the reverberations of the past in the present day.
On a beautiful spring day in Victoria’s James Bay neighbourhood, eight-year-old Esther takes a walk with her great-grandfather on his birthday. On the same street and the same date, but seventy-five years earlier, two enterprising young boys go door to door offering to give people’s fences a fresh coat of paint so that they can earn a few extra cents in an era of wartime austerity.
These parallel timelines converge as Esther’s great-grandfather pauses to show her an old fence with multi-coloured layers of peeling paint. He recognizes the avocado-green layer that he painted with his friend one spring day, way back in 1945—an unforgettable birthday that ended up being V-E Day, when the Allies defeated the Nazis in World War II. Through whimsical illustrations and vivid characters, this simple story shows how a pivotal event in history affects ordinary people and brings generations closer together.
About the authors
Les livres de Sara Cassidy ont été finalistes pour de nombreux prix : le Chocolate Lily Award pour Black Gold et Blackberry Juice ; le Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award pour A Boy Named Queen ; le Bolen Books Children’s Book Prize pour Skylark ainsi que le Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature. Deux de ses titres, A Boy Named Queen et Double Play, ont été sélectionnés par la Junior Library Guild. Sara Cassidy a publié de nombreux recueils de poésie, œuvres de fiction et ouvrages documentaires pour adultes. Elle vit à Victoria en Colombie-Britannique.
Sydney Barnes is an illustrator and graphic designer with a life-long passion for books. She holds a Master of Publishing degree from Simon Fraser University and runs a freelance design business called SJBarnes Design. For more information, visit sjbarnes.com.
Editorial Reviews
Painted Fences does an excellent job portraying what life was like for a child at the time of World War II. ... There are lovely sentiments and learning for children ... with discussion and conversation about Remembrance Day, World War II, and also intergenerational memoirs and the passing of time."
