Flags

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

One day, a young girl who is spending the summer with her grandmother on
the West Coast wanders into a strange and wonderful garden owned by Mr.
Hiroshi, the grandmother’s neighbor. The garden is made of “all sand
and soft, green moss.... Gravelled paths and stepping stones [wander]
between the clipped evergreens. In the centre lay a pond that [is]
ringed with small, blue irises” that her grandmother calls
“flags.” Mr. Hiroshi welcomes the little girl into his garden, and
over the summer, the two become close friends. Unfortunately, it is 1942
and Canada is at war with Japan. Although Mr. Hiroshi was born in
Canada, he is rounded up with other people of Japanese ancestry and
taken away to an internment camp; his house taken over. But before his
garden is destroyed, the little girl rescues two iris bulbs. When she
returns to her home in the prairie, they are the founding plants of her
own Japanese-style garden.

“Flags” are a metaphor for both flowers and nations in this
poignant book by award-winning author Maxine Trottier. Despite the
horrible themes of Mr. Hiroshi’s being unjustly taken away and the
senseless destruction of his beautiful garden, Trottier focuses on how
even fragile things like flowers and children can survive the worst
upheavals fate can throw. Paul Morin uses the natural beauty of his
subjects (e.g., flowers, goldfish, children, sunsets) to fill every page
with vibrant color. Highly recommended.