Phillis Gershator, illustrated by Holly Meade,
Sky Sweeper
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007.

Ages 5 +

Takeboki (“bamboo broom” in Japanese) spends his whole lifetime as the Flower Keeper in a Japanese Buddhist monastery. From boyhood to old age, he declines the opportunities urged on him by others - for a better job, travel, family, prosperity. “I’m happy sweeping,” he tells people, while acknowledging the attraction to a more worldly life. With each temptation, Takeboki reflects and decides anew to stay put. “He knew what he knew: The monks need a temple, the temple needs a garden, and the garden needs a Flower Keeper.”

Through the seasons and years, Takeboki’s simple but increasingly profound sense of vocation is explained in Phillis Gershator’s beautiful language and Holly Meade’s marvelous Japanese paper collage illustrations. Based on the Buddhist Pure Land sect’s practice of visualizing a perfect world, Gershator’s interpretation of his life takes Takeboki beyond death to a heavenly realm where he sweeps the clouds, the mist, the dark and the light with golden and silver gardening tools.

In his heavenly work, “Takeboki smiled again, knowing what he knew.” In the temple garden, “the new Flower Keeper rakes and sweeps—and smiles, too.” The story ends with a haiku:

“A fallen blossom
returns to the branch -
ah, a butterfly!”

There is a deeply beautiful teaching in this simple story. The charm of the illustrations and the poetic repetitive language will allow its meaning to penetrate without much interpretation. Against all the pressures of performance in modern life, even for kindergartners these days, here is a reminder of the blessings of a life of purity and humility. For the child or parent thirsting for deeper meaning in life, the book will be a treasure.

The Author’s Note in the back of the book describes Gershator’s visits to the inspiring Japanese garden of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Its traditional Hill-and-Pond design and the Dry Landscape garden design, are both pictured in The Sky Sweeper. Her conclusion, “Paradise, for Takeboki, is a place where the joy of work never ends,” aptly transmits her inspiration.

Gershator and Meade have extensive credentials in the world of children’s literature. This collaboration will certainly strengthen their respective reputations.

Charlotte Richardson
May 2007