Review Detail

The Concrete Garden

Kids Fiction 616

How much sidewalk chalk would you need?

November 04, 2023 (Updated: June 15, 2026)

Overall rating

4.3

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

5.0

During the pandemic, children in an apartment house finally get to go outside. One girl brings a box of chalk, and starts with a large drawing on the concrete outside the building. Other children add various drawings, expanding on the original. Since there is a lot of green chalk, there are plenty of flowers and plants. When one girl, who is missing her mother who is far away, sends out a picture of the chalk garden, it is seen by many people, and the neighbors go to their windows to applaud. Of course, chalk doesn't last forever, and the garden disappears in the rain. Undeterred, the children go out side when it is clearer, and use the remains of the box that held the chalk to continue their play.

Good Points

The illustrations mimic chalk very well, and the brights and pastels show up well against white backgrounds. Graham's familiar illustration style (Let's Get a Pup, Jigsaw: Mystery in the Mail) is spare, and he is able to evoke a lot of emotions through very simple lines. A nice variety of children are represented, including characters in hijabs.

There are a few masks at the beginning of the book, worn by the adults, do this might require a little historical background for young readers who were born after the COVID-19 lockdown. A note at the beginning mentions that this book was written during that time, but there isn't anything more about the pandemic. The people on the balconies cheering, however, will evoke memories in older readers.

This is a great book to pair with other books that highlight neighborhood art, like Campoy and Howells' Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood or Verde and Parra's Hey, Wall: A Story of Art and Community, and is also great for fostering a sense of community through sharing, like Kramer and Wen's Empanadas for Everyone.