by Moe Zilla

Created on: August 15, 2010

"Uncle Nikos’s garden is so big that it fills his whole yard…"
 
The garden seems to continue, with morning glories climbing up to his house's windows and wild grapevine on the awning over the door. "Uncle Nikos lives by himself in a small Greek village in the mountains," notes the little girl narrating the story, though her uncle Nikos once worked in Athens as a sandal maker when he was young. Now he plays backgammon with his friends at the cafe - and wears a straw hat to fight the heat. The girl visits on weekends during summer vacation, and he always takes her to the bakery for raisin buns - and then to the butcher shop.

 
Everyone has a friendly smile for Uncle Nikos and his niece, and when they get home, they dig a cooking pit together. The little girl picks flowers, and then they settle down to a lamb chop dinner. Then they inspect the garden, with its tomato plants and fruit trees, and even repair a broken branch. It's a very simple story, but that's also what makes it so effective.
 
The book was written by Julie Delton, who spent a year off during her college years to live with a family in Greece , according to the book's jacket. "My Uncle Nikos" was her first book, but she'd already written stories for children that were published in "Jack and Jill" magazine. And for this book she gets some expert assistance from illustrator Marc Simont, who had already won a Caldecott medal. Simont was 68 years old when he illustrated this book, and I had to wonder if he was basing funny Uncle Nikos on himself - or on fond memories of an older relative!
 
Simont's colorful sketches show Uncle Nikos as a kind and gentle man, with a balding head and long grey hair - plus a smile below a white moustache and a pair of dark glasses. And Delton's story shares lots of quaint details about his picturesque life in the country. The little sleeps in a brass bed, below a triangular shelf in the corner that holds pictures of Jesus, mary, and St. George. And there's also a candle that burns all night, "So I am never really afraid of the dark."
 
There's never really a story - on the book's last page, Uncle Nikos falls asleep in mid-sentence before the girl can wish him a good night. But gradually the book suggests uncle Nikos's life, and the joy in his warm, strong personality. It's refreshing to see a children's picture book that uses an easy "natural" style. By the end of the book, the reader knows a lot about the book's two characters - and hopefully, they've started to enjoy them!

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