The Get-well Picture

A touching story, activity book, and keepsake all in one, this heartwarming tale of a boy's gift to cheer up his mother will have other children making gifts and memories with their families as well. When Raymond's mother comes down with a cold, he paints a picture entitled "Tea Party with Monkeys in a Banana Tree Beside a Purple Sea" to cheer her up. When the picture is accidentally thrown away, it begins a grand adventure that spans decadeshealing everyone it touchesas it makes its way back to the woman for whom it was created. At the end of the book, when the mother sees her now-grown son's artwork for the first time in 20 years, the page is left blank for kids to draw or paint their own vision of "Tea Party with Monkeys in a Banana Tree Beside a Purple Sea."

Michael Hetzer is the author of numerous books for both adults and children, including the Celebrate Your Family series of books and the debut novel The Forbidden Zone. He was also the founding editor of Russia''s first English-language daily, The Moscow Times. Kim Clayton is an internationally known folk artist who provides the illustrations for the Celebrate Your Family series of books. Her creative method, which she has dubbed "trash to treasure," involves painting only on cast off trash, from plywood to cardboard. They both live in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.