Greenlee Is Growing by Anthony DeStefano

Greenlee is Growing is a new children’s picture book by best-selling author, Anthony DeStefano. It celebrates the four seasons of the year, showing how they correspond to the four seasons of a person’s life. We meet the main character, Greenlee, when she is a young girl of three, in the flowering springtime of childhood. The book follows her through the joyful summer of her youth and the bittersweet autumn of her adulthood. By the end of the story, Greenlee is a lovely old woman knitting by the fire in the bright, cold days of winter. The book is meant to convey a gentle spiritual message about the meaning and cycle of a person’s whole time on Earth; about the fact that children are meant to grow and change in the same way that grass, trees and flowers do. Most especially, its purpose is to show that in every season of life— even old age— there is potential for profound joy. This optimistic message is sure to resonate with readers in these pessimistic, almost desperate times. Moreover, the book is about simple joys that anyone can appreciate, regardless of gender, race, religion, economic status or political beliefs; simple joys that never change, no matter how much the world around us changes; simple joys like running outside in the sunshine, enjoying the beauty of animals and nature, watching fireworks at night, smelling the ocean breeze or a blazing bonfire, drinking hot cocoa on a chilly but cozy night, and spending time with loved ones during the holidays. In revealing these eternal truths in memorable rhymes and magical illustrations, Greenlee is Growing will impart to people of all ages a vision of hope for the future.