A New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Book of 2024!A Kirkus Best Picture Book of 2024! One of Maria Popova's Marginalian Favorites of 2024!A Moonbow Favorite Picture Book of 2024!A Canadian Children’s Book Centre Best Book for Kids, Spring 2025! SIX starred reviews!A New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Book of 2024! “Maurey's lush oil paintings portray the shapes, textures, and colors that unfold in layers of vegetation, thick underbrush, and tree trunks and branches found in a grandfather's garden. The artist's ability to capture dancing contrasts of light and shadow, depending on the time of day and the weather's shifting temperatures, results in a transportive visual feast, and triggers both the grandfather's memory and his visiting grandson's imagination. Maurey's garden invites the reader to slow down and look, then look again.”
2024 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Jury

STARRED REVIEW! ? “[A] gentle meditation on change and memory… Quiet spreads in cream, moss, and sand set the story in a garden of sculpted forms as child and grandfather contemplate the work of the ghost, who sometimes leaves tracks and knocks over pots, and sometimes deposits small treasures, like a tiny statuette they find in a bird’s nest. Grandpa’s memories feel a bit like ghosts, too, the book reveals… Yet he knows where they are: ‘He says memory has a geography just like the world.’ [A] contemplative journey into a realm where past and present reside cheek-to-cheek.”
Publishers Weekly

STARRED REVIEW! ? “This quiet yet powerful book perfectly captures the emotional resonance of fleeting moments and the imprints they leave behind. Maclear’s stunning text is lengthy yet deliberately paced, suggesting the meandering feeling of revisiting memories. Rendered in a light, earthy palette, Maurey’s dreamy gouache illustrations are a natural complement to the text, further evoking feelings of stillness, remembrance, and the strong yet gentle bonds of family. A subtle but potent look at the ephemeral nature of life—and a reminder to cherish memories.”
Kirkus

STARRED REVIEW! ? "Maclear’s spare lines beautifully evoke the contemplative, observational tone of the story, emphasizing the still moments when the boy and his grandpa pause to look, listen, and remember. Maurey’s foggy, shadowy paintings, full of dusty hues of pink, blue, green, and purpley gray, softly render a garden settling down into the colder seasons, with fallen leaves and branches littering the ground... A subtle yet poignant meditation on the animating power of memory... A gentle, artful, and quietly enchanting book with a matter-of-fact embrace of change and the passing of time."
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