To provide a permanent recollection of such memories, Vivian Hitchman has written a delightful, fanciful adventure of a young girl called Toni. As she lies in bed, gazing at her ceiling mobile of golden lions and contemplating the fate of the dandelions, the mobile-lions come to life and start singing a tune. They invite her to follow them through the window and into a jungle of giant green and yellow and white dandelions. Together they do the dandelion twirl until Toni remembers that her dad is going to cut the dandelions. Simon assures her that she need not worry, and the surprise ending proves him correct.
Dandelions are familiar to most young children.
In this large picture book, Vivian Hitchman has used this common-place weed to create a fantasy even the very young will understand. She uses a minimum of vocabulary on each page to allow the very simple and effective illustrations of Steve Filcher to clearly convey the story to the reader or listener. I am impressed with the section at the back of the book that gives the historic origin of dandelions and tells where and why they are grown. Grassroots Press tells us that Vivian Hitchman is a commercial writer and photographer from Oakville, Ontario, who specializes in producing corporate newsletters and brochures. This multimedia package is her first project for children.