Holly Meade (1956–2013)

This book can teach readers two different life lessons. Takeboki needed a job as a young boy and found one as a flower keeper for the monks' temple. As time goes on Takeboki's family members tell him to find another job, but he says no he is happy doing flower keeper for the temple. Time really goes move on and Takeboki never finds a wife and has any children because he spends all his time at the temple. Eventually he passes and a butterfly comes back to visit the garden. At the end the monks never realized how much they relied on Takeboki to take care of the flower garden, and it started to not look as pretty as it once did. One life from this book is that as long as you're doing what you love that is all that matters, which is exactly what Takeboki did in the book. Another life lesson that can be taken from this book is that if you don't take time to enjoy things in life, it will pass you by and one day will be too late to finally enjoy it.… (meer)

This delightful book helps children to begin taking steps towards independence and to feel the freedom to try new things and to take risks, all as a process of discovery and maturity. The book's message encourages readers to endeavor to "fly," to explore and to discover the world around them. It teaches children that we learn about ourselves, make new friends, and learn new lessons by expanding our horizons, testing our skills, and transcending our limitations. There are so many opportunities we might miss or new things about the world that we may never discover unless we search for them. "We'll never know if we don't try."

The illustrations were done combining watercolor painting with linoleum block printing through collage.… (meer)