Take Time For This Magical Exploration of Time

 

Tundra Books, 2021

This artful and interpretive creation by a renowned Canadian author/illustrator merits attention and sharing. TIME IS A FLOWER is the inspired and inspiring concept picture book by the very talented Julie Morstad. If this creator is new to you, take a moment before reading on, or after finishing this read, to check out her website (Click HERE).

With an opening firmly anchored in conventional time-telling (tick-tocks, numbers/words, a cuckoo clock), a single page turn sweeps readers into a wide range of perspectives, metaphors, art styles, and color choices. As a seed measures time by sprouting, blooming, then withering, as a butterfly reflects time passed within a chrysalis, and as a boy-and-tree beginning life at the same time will measure their height and growth with dramatically different results over time, young readers (and their adult readers) are led through example after example of ways that the natural world is a time keeper around us on a daily (and lifetime) basis. Some are familiar (day-to-night, snapshots capturing  a single moment in ever-changing lives) while others present explorable and thought-provoking moments.

Tundra Books Interior, Julie Morstad, 2021
TIME IS A FLOWER

My favorite (and I am always reluctant to name favorites, especially among these powerful and delightful spreads) offers this text:

"Time is a face whose lines and shapes change little by little, year by year."

With line sketches and shading on a pale background, individual faces are arrayed across a double spread, four-by-four per page, with individuals connected to their aging selves with simple arrows, some aging fromm infant to elder, or from girl-child to young woman, etc. Some proceed through three phases, others through only a single step, and in every direction. With simple indicators of a global range of identities, this universal and gradual process is preceded by a spread on which stacks of snapshots are drawn. This felt so inviting, prompting a dive into personal/family photos to view grandparents (or selves!) as younger, to imagine parents (and selves!) ten or fifty years ahead. 

In this and so many ways I found this to be both a stimulating and soothing exploration of the passing of time in nature, in lives, and in the pages of a truly special book. I hope you'll check it out.Praise For Time Is A Flower…

"Thoughtful metaphors and diverse characters take viewers through the manifold dimensions of time. . . . This exuberant vehicle will expand the thinking of those just beginning to comprehend clocks and calendars." —STARRED REVIEW, Kirkus Reviews