Life Imitating Art Imitating A Children’s
Book
Really Spring
By Gene Zion, Pictures by Margaret Bloy Graham
Children's Book, Published 1956
It was almost Spring.
The air smelled like it, the sun was warmer, and the calendar said that Spring had come, but everything was still gray and bare. The growing, budding Spring hadn't come to the city.
"There are no green signs of Spring," someone sighed.
"How dreary!" groaned another.
People looked as sad as the city. Across the street, a little boy who had been frowning just as hard as everybody, suddenly smiled and said,
"Why wait for Spring to change everything to grass and flowers? Let's change it ourselves right now!"
"Change it? How?" a lady asked.
When the little boy told how, everyone cheered.
"Tell the mayor!" shouted the lady. "We'll all help!"
The next morning, after an exciting speech by the mayor, they paraded down the street behind a big brass band. Boys, girls, friends and neighbors carried paint cans and brushes, ladders and scaffolds.
They painted climbing vines on the fences, and daffodils on the houses. They painted flowers on the awnings over store windows. The painted lampposts and fire hydrants bright colors.
On the big buildings, they painted whole fields of spring daisies, with brooks and rivers running between hills covered with dandelions. Beside a lake, a sign said, "No Fishing!"
On the pillars in front of the bank, they painted bluebirds hunting for breakfast in make-believe grass. Pussy willows grew on mailboxes, and a border of tulips bloomed on the bakery!
Along the waterfront, the old piers soon looked like big moss-covered rocks. They painted frogs on them. The black gas tanks became giant mushrooms. On the excursion boat that would soon go up and down the river, they painted reeds and water lilies and blue fish jumping.
They painted buttercups on the bridge, and the cars of the train running over it were each a different color. Smokestacks, chimneys, and factories, water tanks and towers, all changed from sad gray to happy green and yellow. Finally, everything that could be painted had been painted. There was a bright, fresh, springlike look everywhere.
After the city had gone to sleep, it began to rain. It rained and rained throughout the night. In the morning, from one end of the city to the other, the painted grass and flowers had all been washed away.
But the rain had started everything really growing! Real vines and sprouts were coming up green in the gardens, and crocuses had pushed up through the earth. Tiny ferns had appeared like magic during the night.
Plants had started in the window boxes, and the trees lining the streets were covered with tender buds.
On top of the old deserted barges in the river, grass grew, and dandelions, real ones now, were there.
In the zoo, the animals went to their outdoor cages and sniffed the new thin grass covering the park. Robins chirped and lions and tigers stretched in the spring sun. They knew it had come at last.
The boys and girls who had waited so long oiled their skates and polished their bicycles, Everything was awake and stirring as they looked all around them at the city...it was really Spring
By Gene Zion, Pictures by Margaret Bloy Graham
Children's Book, Published 1956
It was almost Spring.
The air smelled like it, the sun was warmer, and the calendar said that Spring had come, but everything was still gray and bare. The growing, budding Spring hadn't come to the city.
"There are no green signs of Spring," someone sighed.
"How dreary!" groaned another.
People looked as sad as the city. Across the street, a little boy who had been frowning just as hard as everybody, suddenly smiled and said,
"Why wait for Spring to change everything to grass and flowers? Let's change it ourselves right now!"
"Change it? How?" a lady asked.
When the little boy told how, everyone cheered.
"Tell the mayor!" shouted the lady. "We'll all help!"
The next morning, after an exciting speech by the mayor, they paraded down the street behind a big brass band. Boys, girls, friends and neighbors carried paint cans and brushes, ladders and scaffolds.
They painted climbing vines on the fences, and daffodils on the houses. They painted flowers on the awnings over store windows. The painted lampposts and fire hydrants bright colors.
On the big buildings, they painted whole fields of spring daisies, with brooks and rivers running between hills covered with dandelions. Beside a lake, a sign said, "No Fishing!"
On the pillars in front of the bank, they painted bluebirds hunting for breakfast in make-believe grass. Pussy willows grew on mailboxes, and a border of tulips bloomed on the bakery!
Along the waterfront, the old piers soon looked like big moss-covered rocks. They painted frogs on them. The black gas tanks became giant mushrooms. On the excursion boat that would soon go up and down the river, they painted reeds and water lilies and blue fish jumping.
They painted buttercups on the bridge, and the cars of the train running over it were each a different color. Smokestacks, chimneys, and factories, water tanks and towers, all changed from sad gray to happy green and yellow. Finally, everything that could be painted had been painted. There was a bright, fresh, springlike look everywhere.
After the city had gone to sleep, it began to rain. It rained and rained throughout the night. In the morning, from one end of the city to the other, the painted grass and flowers had all been washed away.
But the rain had started everything really growing! Real vines and sprouts were coming up green in the gardens, and crocuses had pushed up through the earth. Tiny ferns had appeared like magic during the night.
Plants had started in the window boxes, and the trees lining the streets were covered with tender buds.
On top of the old deserted barges in the river, grass grew, and dandelions, real ones now, were there.
In the zoo, the animals went to their outdoor cages and sniffed the new thin grass covering the park. Robins chirped and lions and tigers stretched in the spring sun. They knew it had come at last.
The boys and girls who had waited so long oiled their skates and polished their bicycles, Everything was awake and stirring as they looked all around them at the city...it was really Spring