Gardens - and Gardeners - that Heal

From today’s edition of the Winston-Salem Journal comes a story that should make almost everyone smile.

David Bare, the garden columnist for the Journal, spotlights the horticultural therapy program at the Centers for Exceptional Children in Winston-Salem.  The program is active on two campuses in Winston-Salem that serve children with special needs.  JoAnn Yates and Jennifer Manning, horticultural therapists, direct the programs.  The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools and the United Way provide funding; many other corporate and nonprofit organizations provide additional support.

“With nature as a co-teacher the horticultural therapist uses hands-on activities to stimulate and nurture sensory, motor, cognitive and communication skills,” says Ms. Yates.  These programs incorporate the activities of teachers and physical, occupational and speech therapist.

In the horticultural therapy program, these professionals can breathe new life into time-honored but sometimes not-so-interesting educational techniques.  In the gardens, the children participate in activities that are engaging on many levels and achieve the same goals.

The gardens are accessible to children who use wheelchairs and other adaptive devices.  With flowers, fruits, rocks, dirt and worms, it seems like there is something in the gardens for everyone! 

Although the focus is on the children, the gardens also provide valuable habitat for birds, butterflies and other creatures.  The children learn about being good stewards of the Earth.

Exciting work like this is happening in many places.  Thanks to David Bare and the Winston-Salem Journal for making us aware of what is happening here in the Triad!

Here is a link to Mr. Bare's column.

Review of Silent to the Bone, by E.L. Konigsburg

I enjoy reading, and among the things I like reading most is fiction for tweens and 

teens.  E.L. Konigsburg is one of our finest writers in this genre.  In 1968 she won 

the Newbery Medal for From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.  Almost 

30 years later she won the award again, for The View from Saturday.  I recently 

read another of Ms. Konigsburg’s novels, Silent to the Bone.  I recommend it 

wholeheartedly for readers ages 12 and older. 

As in her Newbery winners, Konigsburg’s main characters are bright

 young teens who set out to solve a mystery.  But there’s a catch:   

one of the boys, who was integrally involved in the mystery, is unable

 to speak about it.  Since his baby sister was injured, Branwell has 

been completely uncommunicative.  It is up to his best friend, Connor, to try to help 

Branwell find his voice – and find a way to avoid serious legal charges. 

Relationships are at the center of this story.  There is Branwell’s love for his 

father, which is unquestioned until Branwell comes home from a summer visit to 

his grandparents to find that his father has fallen in love (Branwell’s mother died 

when he was an infant).  Connor’s relationship with his much older half-sister is 

sometimes complicated by the fact that she seems intent on not cutting their father 

any slack.  Branwell finds himself having confusing, lustful feelings for Vivian, the 

20-year-old British au pair;  these feelings threaten to change everything – including 

the lifelong bond between Branwell and Connor. 

Konigsburg addresses some difficult issues here, including blended family 

relationships, the burgeoning sexual urges of teenage boys, and the persistence 

of hurt feelings over years or decades.  She deals with these topics 

sensitively, without become pedantic or overly analytical.  Like the characters 

in the story, the reader is allowed to work through his or her own feelings 

while trying to put together the pieces of this puzzle.  

Many of the children and adolescents I see struggle with the impact of 

parental separation, divorce, and adjusting to new family members.  These kids 

often have trouble talking about these matters: they hit too close to home.  I 

am in favor of any book that shows how young characters – and their parents -   

can work through such problems and grow from the experience.  Silent to the Bone 

does that marvelously.