01/09/2017
Early on in this wordless tale, one of a group of smirking schoolchildren blows a small projectile—a spitball?—across several pages until it hits a girl with stick-straight hair and thick glasses. For a moment, she frowns. Then she pockets the object and joins a line of children dressed in caps and gowns; it’s graduation day. When the ceremony is over, the girl opens her locker, takes the object out of her pocket and puts it in a jar. It’s a sunflower seed, and the jar is full of them; the bullies have been shooting them at her for months, apparently. In this lovely fable, readers discover her plan for all those seeds. Though this is a tale about bullying, Parda (The Gentleman Bat) resists the urge to moralize. Instead, he creates a character who responds to aggression with quiet resourcefulness, and without involving grownups or attempting vengeance. His watercolor and monoprint spreads recall Satoshi Kitamura; they’re built on warm, expressive black lines, making even the girl’s dreary school, with its cracked tiles and metal doors, worth a closer look. Ages 5–up. (Mar.)
"Though this is a tale about bullying, Parda (The Gentleman Bat) resists the urge to moralize. Instead, he creates a character who responds to aggression with quiet resourcefulness, and without involving grownups or attempting vengeance. His watercolor and monoprint spreads recall Satoshi Kitamura; they’re built on warm, expressive black lines, making even the girl’s dreary school, with its cracked tiles and metal doors, worth a closer look." —Publisher's Weekly
"A subtle reminder that education is a gift no amount of bullying can spoil." —Kirkus Reviews
"Graduation Day clearly demonstrates Parda's genuine flair for visual storytelling, making Graduation Day highly recommended for family, elementary school and community library picture book collections." —Midwest Book Review
"While the messages of bullying, change and peace are clear, the thought-provoking artwork makes this a book to be savored and discussed by readers of all ages." —BookPage
"This is a resonating story without words that is not a preachy bullying message of 'do not bully; it’s wrong.' This is about a victim who, despite it all, is able to create hope and beauty where there must have been a lot of heartache." —Angela Ferraris, Reading 32 Pages
07/01/2017
K-Gr 3—This surreal wordless tale opens with a bleak cityscape; in the center square, there is a run-down school with a banner reading "Graduation Day." Peering out contentedly is a small child with brown skin, huge brown eyes, and glasses. On the next page, a group of bullies blow a spitball toward the bespectacled youth. Briefly discomfited, she peers down at the object that hit her, then tucks it into a pocket. After a collegial-looking ceremony, the other graduates are collected by happy families, and the bullied child is happily alone in the empty school. She visits her locker and, with a smile, pulls a sunflower seed out of her pocket to add to a huge jar full of identical seeds—presumably the bullying has been going on for some time. The bullies see the seeds only as weapons, but the child, leaving the school with finality, plants all the seeds in the cracks of the schoolyard. In a beautiful sequence that introduces the first bright colors into the bland world, the seeds begin to sprout until the square is awash with vibrant sunflowers. In the final spread, the school is nearly submerged and flowers escape into the rest of the city. There are still cracks, but the city looks revived. VERDICT The striking watercolor and ink illustrations are well executed, but close inspection creates more questions than answers, making this a supplemental purchase.—Anna Haase Krueger, Ramsey County Library, MN
2017-01-17
A subtle reminder that education is a gift no amount of bullying can spoil.Or at least that might be the point of this wordless, metaphorical head-scratcher. In a school situated in a drab neighborhood beneath tracks that are, in the first scene, being used to ship war materiel, a graduation ceremony is about to begin. As the students, depicted as elementary-age children, line up in their gowns, one sniggering graduate shoots a seed into the back of another's head. The victim, smiling, picks up and pockets the seed. Later, after everyone else is swept away by proud parents, the bespectacled child adds the seed to a big jar full of similar ones, which are all then taken out to the schoolyard to plant in the cracks between paving stones. Parda depicts the setting and a racially and ethnically diverse cast of children and adults in dull or neutral tones, which sets up a vivid visual contrast as the seeds sprout, grow, and finally surround the school in a shining glory of golden sunflowers. In a final view the flowers are seen to be starting to spread, and the neighborhood looks a little less run-down. A possible discussion starter, though enigmatic to a fault. (Picture book. 11-18)
