by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 10, 2010

Is it a children's book or an abstract poem?  "Yonder" rambles through scenes of a forest that becomes a homestead, but its characters are never given a name. And even those scenes are shown through impressionistic paintings, leaving an indistinct softness that's almost magical. "Yonder are that hills that roll forever," writes author Tony Johnston. But her descriptive poetry seems to keep its distance throughout the book, offering only quick glimpses of the passing of a generation.

Johnston was inspired by real-life orchard of fruit trees that was planted to commemorate the births and passings of family members in an old house . She has an awareness of the flow of history, since (according to the jacket) she studied history at Stanford.  Johnston even dedicates the book to her grandparents, suggesting one of them became the farmer who first rides into the story - whose name may also be Yonder.

But the word "Yonder" is soon replaced in her short, rhythmic descriptions when "way over yonder" becomes "just over there." The family builds a cabin out of pine planks, then fills it "with cats and dogs and children." Soon new neighbors have ventured down the road to build a barn of their own. And the Yonders have built an orchard where they'll plant a tree for every child that's born.

Lloyd Bloom has a masters degree in fine arts, according to the book's jacket, and his illustrations match the natural tone of Johnston's slow-moving narration. The daughters swing in the plum tree. The mother assembles a quilt. And instead of plots and actions, there's just a simple retelling of their life on the homestead. The chickens are always fed at sun up. Woodpeckers play in the trees. And it all happens "There. Just over there."


While the illustrations fill in some details, the story still rushes its way to the next generation. Eventually the children grow up, and "There is a daughter at her wedding." (The neighbors, of course, come to the churchyard that's "There. Just over there...") The mother and father are now bearded and elderly, and soon they've also become grandparents. My favorite illustration appears towards the end of the book, showing a plum tree in the back yard that's covered with snow at Christmas time. But the story's building up to one final, meaningful, message. "Grandpa's dead. Grandpa's gone. So they plant a tree. There. Just over there."

But his plum trees are still in blossom...

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