The Fragrant Garden

Lisa Arsenault is a high-school English teacher who is involved in
several ministry campaigns to increase literacy.

Jade enjoys helping out at her family’s restaurant in Chinatown. She
packs take-out orders and fills the salt shakers, but she wants to do
more. She wants to learn to use the cash register but her father tells
her that, at nine years old, she’s too young. However, when Jade
demonstrates her resourcefulness in the restaurant kitchen, her father
changes his mind.

This picture book is really a love letter to food. The various stages
of food preparation are lovingly described. You can actually see the
vegetables as they’re being chopped and diced and hear the clanging
and clamour of the pots and pans as the activity in the kitchen reaches
a crescendo. The personification of food is an intriguing device (the
description of a family of bok choy tumbling about in the wok and
wrestling with other foods, their tempers simmering when the cook douses
them with hot sauce, illustrates the preparation of stir-fry
brilliantly). The colour illustrations are equally evocative. Texture
and layering of colour are particularly important in establishing the
mood. Interestingly, however, the artist has chosen to use mainly sombre
colours for the interiors, perhaps to reflect the rather dark winter
weather depicted outside.

This is a nice little book on several levels. It tells an enjoyable
story in which initiative and intelligence are justly rewarded; Jade is
an endearing little character; the pictures support the text; and there
are several instances of inspired writing (such as when the
aforementioned bok choy vegetables get spooned onto a platter and lie
peacefully, exhausted from their struggle). Recommended.