Secret gardens, hidden gates, flowering passageways. A picture book biography of Frances Hodgson Burnett's winding and captivating life.
Frances Hodgson Burnett--best known for writing The Secret Garden, Little Lord Fauntleroy, and The Little Princess--had a difficult childhood, losing her father when she was very young and moving with her family from England to Tennessee in hopes of a better life.
She'd been making up stories her entire life but didn't try to write professionally until she was a teenager to help feed her family. Her first submissions to a magazine were published and she eventually became well known all over the world.
This is Hodgson Burnett's life story, told in lyrical prose evoking some of the same magic of her own stories.
"Angelica Carpenter tells the full and inspiring story of Frances Hodgson Burnett's ever- changing life - through hardships and fame - which she faced with her indomitable spirit and her love of words. Beyond the biographical details is a wealth of information. As the pages turn and the years pass, Helena Perez Garcia's detailed and glorious illustrations of bright bursting flowers and color are like a walk through a dazzling sunlit garden. The story and pictures reflect the undaunted spirit of a born writer who solved any problem with words and imagination." --Aliki, beloved author/illustrator of more than fifty books for children
"Frances Hodgson Burnett's life, though thorned with tragedy, blooms within this inspirational picture book. The real-life inspirations for Burnett's most famous works, including A Little Princess and The Secret Garden, are revealed alongside details of her childhood, when her imagination sustained her through hardships. The gray drudgery of industrial Manchester, England, contrasts with the vivid floral hues of Burnett's gardens in stunning illustrations that perfectly pair with the book's timeless message: 'hope is never far for those who can imagine.'"--Foreword Reviews
Angelica Shirley Carpenter writes biographies for young people and older readers, too. Her subjects are authors--Frances Hodgson Burnett, L. Frank Baum, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lewis Carroll, and Matilda Joslyn Gage. She lives with her husband in Fresno, California. A self-proclaimed Oz nut, she is a past president of the International Wizard of Oz Club. In her former life she was a librarian, the founding curator of the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children's Literature at California State University, Fresno.
Helena Pérez García is a Spanish illustrator whose work has appeared across magazines, newspapers, packaging, and books for children and adults internationally. Her illustrations are conceptual, whimsical, and rich in detail and color. Helena's primary medium is gouache, and her main sources of inspiration are art, literature, and cinema. After completing a fine arts degree in Spain, Helena relocated to London in 2012, where she lived and worked for six years. During this period, and driven by the artistic history and cultural influences of the city and the country, Helena developed her characteristic style. She relocated to Madrid in 2018, where she is currently based. Some of her clients include Penguin Random House, The Body Shop, Tate Publishing, The Financial Times, Reader's Digest, and Il Corriere della Sera, amongst many others.
Target Age: 4-8
Bushel & Peck Books
Pub Date: July 23, 2024
0.4" H x 10.1" L x 9.1" W
32 pages
hardcover