Book review, from Toronto to Tokyo – The Fan Brothers’ first picture book collaboration, The Night Gardener, vividly captures a transformation — from bland, dreary outlook to bristling, colourful reality.

On the cover of the multi-award winning book stands an intricately sculpted owl in the light of the moon. A young boy looks up, mesmerized by the creation. This boy is William, and he lives with other children in Grimloch Lane, a street in lined with very ordinary trees and buildings. As dreary as the location sounds, the book starts off with William’s gaze fixated on something outside. The next moment, he is there, outside, staring from a distance in awe at the wise owl that was once just another boring tree. It had appeared out of nowhere in the night.

Every beautifully crafted tree draws William out, along with others in the town. Green makes room for colour, and inertia for momentum. William soon stands among the people living there, who had also come to see the masterpieces. He later finds the gardener who worked his magic in the night, but the stranger leaves, leaving no physical trace of his visit as his creations fall away through the seasons. But by the end, the town comes alive, with an ice cream truck that asks people to “watch for children” as they play outside. William had changed too, snipping away at a bush in the moonlight under a squirrel’s watchful eye.

The pictures in the book contains clues to William’s story. A photo beside him as he looked out the window suggests that he had known his parents. The elusive gardener’s 2-page dragon masterpiece was not the terrifying, fire-breathing kind, but a slender, graceful one that seemed as ready to soar the skies as it were to glide through the oceans. As the skies darkened, oriental laterns would join the dragon in adorning a local festival. The ideas in these pictures piece together a story beyond change, of using art to reach out to bring people together, and most importantly, of watching over every child and helping them find their dreams.

Title: The Night Gardener
by The Fan Brothers (Eric Fan and Terry Fan)
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2016
Available in hardcover and Enhanced eBook