House Held Up by Trees

　　書中描繪母親缺席的家庭，屋子旁長著一大片草坪，而父親，好似執意和野草對決，不放過任何一根冒出來的小草，月月年年，維持著一片完美的草坪。一雙兒女則在草坪旁的樹叢中遊戲乘涼，遠遠看著父親揮汗工作。似乎當孩子越大，離家的日子越近，父親越是努力在草坪上工作。

　　美國詩人作者泰德．庫瑟是以真實景象為靈感杜撰了此故事，那是一間他常經過的荒廢老房子，詩人把景象超現實化，讓「樹的手」托起了老房子，遠看就像在樹枝間的一個大鳥巢。這位父親在子女雙雙離家後毅然決定棄守這片草坪，放棄這間房子，然而，毫無原因的，這間房子遲遲無人問津，活生生地被大自然肆虐成為廢墟。這座房子由完美到破敗，一直乏人問津，只有歲月和自然走過他的軌跡，暗喻了文中那位父親──父親的存在是一間無人要買的空屋。當他被樹枝高高舉起，像是他此生的葬禮。底下舉目無親，徒見野草野花滿地，空氣中還有他一直、一再錯過的微微的、綠色的、甜甜的花香味。

　　From Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Ted Kooser and Jon Klassen, author-illustrator of the first ever title to win both the Kate Greenaway and Caldecott Medal, comes a lovely, lyrical exploration of loss, change and the natural world, and a story about a house over the passage of time. When the house was new, not a single tree remained on its perfect lawn to give shade from the sun. The children in the house trailed the scent of wild trees to neighbouring lots, where thick bushes offered secret places to play. When the children grew up and moved away, their father, alone in the house, continued his battle against blowing seeds, plucking out sprouting trees - until one day he, too, moved away. Then, as the empty house began its decline, the trees began to take over. At once wistful and exhilarating, this moving story evokes the awe-inspiring power of nature to lift us up.

作者簡介

　　Ted Kooser was the Pulitzer Prize-winning US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. The author of twelve full-length volumes of poetry and several non-fiction works, as well as contributor to many periodicals, he lives in Nebraska.