The Garden - Tapa dura

When Jenny finds an unusual stone in the garden she thinks at first it is magic. But her mother tells her it is a flint, probably hundreds of years old. Jenny surveys her South Dakota garden. 'What was it like here then' she asks 'Just think' her mother replies. Jenny looks beyond the garden to the skyline and imagines the land so long ago. That night she dreams of the world as it once was - the garden, the houses, and the city skyline all gone, nothing but wilderness and a circle of people talking softly in the firelight. One of the men turns to Jenny and she knows he wants her to return his stone. . . .

Dyan Sheldon (Author)
Dyan Sheldon is the author of many books for young people, including Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and a number of stories for younger readers. She also writes books for adults. American by birth, she lives in north London.

Gary Blythe (Illustrator)
Gary Blythe is an award-winning illustrator. His first children’s picture book, The Whales’ Song, written by Dyan Sheldon, won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1990. Gary lives in the Wirral, near Liverpool.