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"It's a busy morning in the park. All along the boulevard, families are picnicking and people are napping, playing checkers, and reading on the grass. But Owen and his dad are hard at work, raking and mowing the grass. And today, Owen gets to do the best job all on his own ... When the park is empty ... he turns the tap for the sprinkler system, and water cascades over the trees and flower beds"--
About the author
SCOT RITCHIE is an award-winning illustrator and author with more than seventy books to his credit, including Tug, P'ésk'a and the First Salmon Ceremony, Federica and Owen at the Park. His books have been translated into French, Korean, Indonesian, Polish, Finnish, Arabic and Dutch. Scot has worked with the National Film Board of Canada and has exhibited his illustrations at the National Gallery of Canada. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Summary
Working with his dad in the park, Owen gets to do his favorite job all by himself. First, he clears the park of picnickers, checkers players, sleepy dogs and geese, and then the magic happens …
It’s a busy morning in the park. All along the boulevard, families are picnicking and people are napping, playing checkers and reading on the grass. But Owen and his dad are hard at work, raking and mowing the grass. And today, Owen gets to do the best job all on his own. With his dad’s encouragement, Owen gathers his courage and goes around to everyone in the park. He tells the families, the checkers players and the readers what he has to do, and they rush off. Finally, when the park is empty, it is the moment Owen has been waiting for. He turns the tap for the sprinkler system, and water cascades over the trees and flower beds.
In creating this book, Scot Ritchie was inspired by his trip to the beautiful Tiergarten park in Berlin. Owen at the Park is a sweet story illuminating the small pleasures in everyday life and the excitement of a child taking on new responsibilities.
Key Text Features
author’s note
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3
Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3
Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
Foreword
REVIEW COPIES:
- Publishers Weekly
- Booklist
- Kirkus Reviews
