Flowers for Mom

Kathy Corrigan is the journals editor at the OISE Press.

Plot lines in Marton’s books tend to be simple—even overly simple,
as they are in her earlier creations Nothing Else But Yams for Supper
and I’ll Do It Myself. In this book, however, the simplicity of plot
harmonizes well both with the innocent nature of the story’s main
character and with the unaffected writing style in the text. The result
is a book of quiet charm, one that improves with subsequent readings.

With no playmates to be found at the local park, young Jirka follows a
hot-air balloon far out into a neighboring meadow. He loses the balloon
but discovers “flowers everywhere.” The big, beautiful bouquet he
picks for his mother dwindles down to a single wild rose by the time he
gets home, as Jirka presents some flowers to a variety of passersby en
route and loses others to the wind in a near encounter with the
neighborhood toughs, whose appreciation of flowers is nowhere near the
level of Jirka’s.

Marton’s acrylics suggest a European setting—wrought-iron gates in
the walls around houses, arched railway bridges, and pavilions and
fountains in the park. Her paintings are rich in color, often
highlighting one or two colors to good effect. Jirka’s world is a rich
and beautiful place—no wonder the boy arrives home happy.