(Henry Van Dyke, page 3)' Here the opening scene is described and eases the reader into the story. Outside the rattling windows there was a restless, whispering wind.

The clock on the wall ticked loudly and lazily, as if it had time to spare. * Its eloquent row of words drew me in: 'The parents were abed and sleeping. One story, the very first actually, did just that to me. Even so, not all stories deem very exciting, but some do gain at least one sense of 'the blue flower': a desire/strive for something unknown or unreachable. Though only one story is by Henry Van Dyke himself, all showcase beautiful description that is sure to intrigue the eloquent mind. In today's writing and life, symbols are often a lost art, this book revives one of the less known ones. Each story is an adventure, though small, that contributes to the meaning of the blue flower (. The pictures go beautifully with each story. Even in an antique store of a thousand book, this one stood out(though I quite enjoy flowers, so that might be part of it). It is filled with nine stories of varying length and eight beautiful prints(paintings). The Blue Flower, by Henry Van Dyke, is a magical, wanderlust book. It would be wonderful to see a short film on a more developed story about Saloma. The cover alone is gorgeous and it has a lovely gilt top and the edges of the pages are all rough and lovely. It's a fun read with 9 short stories that would be fun to talk about and compare to today's fare. However, with some updating, a couple of the stories would make nice short films. Some of them are decidedly Christian but again, that's part of what reading was supposed to accomplish in those days-teaching a sense of morality and that being Christian and 'converting' those who weren't was one of the most selfless professions. It would have been better in a longer more developed format.

'Spy Rock' is one of the more interesting stories that needed a little more body to it. As an author, he does paint very vibrant and lovely pictures with his words.

The stories are very much reflective of the period. I know this because around 10 of the pages were still attached to each other so I carefully tore them apart. It also happens that I am the first person to read the book. I got a lovely copy of this book years ago and just now read it.

The blue flower book