Frank Shaw

I grew up thriving on stories, and among them I have glowing memories of "The Hole in the Fence", read to us forty years ago by our Grade One teacher Mrs. Esposti. I've easily tracked down several of my childhood favourites, but this was a difficult instance. The Internet is almost devoid of information about this wonderful collection of stories that take place in the Garden, where all of the characters are anthropomorphic vegetables. At last, I turned up a surprising fact: the book is attributed to the Government of Canada. It was a 1970s effort to instill early thinking about drug use in younger grades, in hopes of giving them greater power to say no to peer pressure in their later lives. It went out of print around 1980.

To begin, the Garden's denizens gather to meet an unusual guest: Mushroom arrives via the titular hole, and describes a magic potion that makes every problem evaporate and every day perfect. Suspiciously, he cuts short his visit when Mr. Cauliflower happens by. After this scene, in a series of episodes it's demonstrated that life in the Garden has a lot of the pitfalls that many young children experience. Carrot gets his comeuppance after cheating; Brussel Sprout is too proud to ask for directions; Pea runs away from home; Potato is falsely blamed for a theft, and excluded from playtime; Pumpkin is teased for his size, and Eggplant is shunned for his purple colour; Onion experiences peer pressure; Cucumber's bullying meets a reversal; and Green Tomato is too young. Only Mushroom promises a way to escape all of these challenges, but is it really a solution? It costs Brussel Sprout his hat to try it, and he gains nothing. Carrot looks ill rather than happier. All the rest are content to ignore Mushroom's offer, despite the Garden's ups and downs.

The artwork is not much, a bit creepy to my eyes now but engaging when I was young. The language is very simple, hiding the messages underneath. The final chapter is a masterpiece of concise messaging and it has an adult-like open ending. We will never know what Carrot chooses, but we're certainly meant to wonder what we would do in his stead. The hard working folks in this government department created a simple fantasy world that was retained by me for the rest of my life. It has aged poorly in one respect: grumpy old Mr. Cauliflower undeservedly strikes a couple of the children with his cane. But it was a fine thing to visit the Garden again and share it with my son. It generated some good discussion between us on several important topics, and it would be nice if his memories prove as lasting.… (meer)