**The Gardener is a 1997 New York Times Book Review Notable Children's
Book of the Year and a 1998 Caldecott Honor Book.
**
**From the author-and-illustrator team of the bestselling *The
Library.
Lydia Grace Finch brings a suitcase full of seeds to the big gray city,
where she goes to stay with her Uncle Jim, a cantankerous baker. There
she initiates a gradual transformation, bit by bit brightening the shop
and bringing smiles to customers' faces with the flowers she grows. But
it is in a secret place that Lydia Grace works on her masterpiece -- an
ambitious rooftop garden -- which she hopes will make even Uncle Jim
smile. Sarah Stewart introduces readers to an engaging and determined
young heroine, whose story is told through letters written home, while
David Small's illustrations beautifully evoke the Depression-era
setting.