The Animal Hedge - Paul Fleischman

Illustrotor: Bagram Ibatoulline
For: Kids
Pub: 1983, 2003
Rating: 3.5/5
Finished: Aug. 11, 2008

I first read this book when it was illustrated by Lydia Dabcovich. Now out of print, I can't remember the illustrations. The current version is illustrated by a Russian artist using an American Folk Art style, A bit dark, and not my favorite style, it does seem to suit the story. A 19th century farmer lovingly tends his animals and raises his three boys, always singing while they worked. The eldest sang coachmen's songs, the second sang songs of the sea, and the third's favorite song was of a traveling fiddler.

Tragedy strikes in the form of a huge drought. To feed his family, the farmer slowly sells all his animals, then his farm, purchasing a tiny house in which to live. When rain finally reappears and he goes to trim the hedge, his eyes picture animal shapes in the greenery, so he trims it to look like the animals his mind sees. As the hedge grows he continues to trim, adding offspring, creating a yardful of cows and chickens and pigs. However, he no longer sings.

One by one the sons grow up. The father helps each to realize what their aspirations are by cutting the hedges to the ground and letting each boy look for the shapes they see in the growth to guide their career decisions. Not surprisingly they follow the direction of the songs each sang as a young boy - the eldest becomes a coachman, the middle boy a sailor, the youngest a fiddler.

Years later the successful sons come home to visit the father and realize that since their dreams took shape in the hedge, their father's continuous farm menargarie being recreated there is his dream. So they go out and buy him a whole new flock of cows, chickens, and pigs. Alhough now quite elderly, he is quite happy. A sweet story. Magical without any magic. What would MY heart see in the growing hedge?