Celia Planted a Garden is an excellent children's book that is an elegant and simple celebration of poet and gardener Celia Thaxter (1835-1894), once the center of literature and art in the twentieth century. betting islands. The low, rocky archipelago that separates Maine from New Hampshire is beautifully illustrated (by Portlander Melissa Sweet) at the beginning of the book.
In 1839, Celia and her parents, Thomas and Elisa Rhimes Lawton, moved from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to White Island, where Thomas became a lighthouse keeper. Soon it acquired the nearby islands of Cedar, Hog, Malaga and Smutynose. Later, the family built a hotel in Hog (now called Appledore Island) on the Maine side of the border.
The hotel attracts a roster of prominent artistic figures of the era - artists such as William Morris Hunt and Childe Hassam; writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Sarah Orne Jewett, John G. Whittier and William Dean Howells; Also publisher James and Annie Fields. It was Hawthorne, in 1852, who affectionately called Celia "Miranda Island," a reference to the violent female leader in Shakespeare's play "The Tempest."
Celia Planting a Garden begins with this paragraph: “When Celia Lawton was very young, she lived on White Island, where the rocks were gray and white, the waves crashing on the rocks were gray and white, and the seagulls coming. The sea was gray and white.” The words do not rhyme, but the language in all the songs of the book.
In the two-tone landscape, Celia, who wanted more color in her life, planted a garden. "For as long as I can remember, Bunga has been like my best friend," he said. As a young woman, she changes the landscape of her colorful garden. “Planting a seed in the ground is a beautiful thing for me,” he said. The book combines his true words, drawn from his extensive writing, with the prose of authors Phyllis Root and Gary de Schmidt. The illustrations are charming and cheerful: vivid flowers and birds against the backdrop of a serene gray-blue island landscape.
"Celia Planted a Garden" tells the story of her childhood. At the age of twelve, Celia and her family moved to the nearby island of Appledore, where her father built a large hotel and Celia planted a new garden. and followed him until puberty. At the age of 16, she married her mentor Levi Thaxter. The couple raised a family in Massachusetts. Levi does not like the sea, so Celia spends her creative energy writing folk poems about the islands, painting flowers in China, and returning to her beloved gardens, hotels and literary friends in the summer.
Celia is getting old. She and her husband separated and he returned to the island. Elder, among the plants, birds and insects he loved, but kept his childhood joy in nature. The book ends with "See you next spring."
The author includes a concluding note on Celia's life, a two-page timeline and a comprehensive bibliography of works, fact and fiction, by and about Thaxter. It can be intimidating, but it's also good information for kids who want to know more. As a final piece of historical continuity, we read that in 1977 the Shoals Naval Laboratory restored Thaxter Garden as described and painted it in "An Island Garden." His work continues.
William David Barry is a local historian and author/co-author of seven books, including Maine: The Wilder Side of New England and Deering: A Social and Architectural History. Work on the history of the Maine Historical Society. . He lives in Portland with his wife Debra and their cat Nadine.
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