In the Garden with Flori by Sonja Danowski translated by Marshall Yarbrough

Young readers will gasp - there is a moment in this book when Linn makes a terrible mistake. Her grandfather has had an accident, and he is in hospital. Linn offers to care for his precious greenhouse garden. There is a hint in these words:

"Inside, in the greenhouse, Grandpa grew flowers and vegetables ... because they were inside, the delicate plants were protected from pests and bad weather."

Linn has taken her dog Flori to help with the garden but Flori is more interested in digging. He finds a way to dig under the wall of the greenhouse and escape into the garden. This means that something from outside can come in but Linn does not know this. When she arrives at the garden the next day it has been decimated by snails!

How can Linn tell her grandfather? He will be so disappointed. In the illustration above you can see part of the solution. Linn's friend Emi loves to paint. She paints a set of pictures showing the way the garden should look. Of course Linn still has to confess about the snails but luckily there is a happy ending because the digging by Flori has unearthed Grandpa's precious old watch that he thought was lost forever. 

The last two pages of this book give readers some facts about snails. See inside this book here. 

Young readers are sure to be fascinated by all the flower names mentioned in this book - marigolds, lupis dahlias, bellflowers, hostas, along with vegetables such as squash and kohlrabi. 

The German title of this book is Im Garten mit Flori.

I met Sonja Danowski at a USBBY conference and ever since that time I have had several of her books on my wish list. Last week I decided to purchase a few books from my lists and one of them was this book which I so happy to add to my own bookshelves. I previously talked about Little Night Cat.

Lucy Willow by Sally Gardner illustrated by Peter Bailey

This is a book with so many plot twists I found myself gasping over and over again. Lucy Willow lives with her mum, dad and baby brother (Lucy names him Stench but his real name is Zac) in a train carriage. They had been living in a high-rise apartment building but mum wanted a garden and dad didn't like heights. Dad also loved trains so when he saw an advertisement to buy a real train carriage which had been fitted out like a house it seemed like the perfect solution. Of course, things are never that simple and when the family move in the train is still running but they are able to work around the train timetable and Dad can get to work in the city and Lucy can go to school in the little village of Maldon-in-the-marsh. 

Luckily for the family the train is sold which means it no longer moves back and forth between Liverpool Street Station and the village but the new owners need the family to move the train carriages off their track. Just as all of this happens dad loses his job so now they have no money.

Meanwhile in her class, Lucy and the other children are growing sunflowers. Lucy discovers she has a magical gift with a mysterious sounding name of green fingers. No her fingers are not green but any plants that she touches seem to grow extraordinarily quickly. Naturally because she is a child, a mere eight-year-old girl, no one will listen to her or believe her. But they do need to listen because dad now has a part time job at the local garden centre as an accountant and there is a big wedding coming up in the village with a famous football (soccer) player and the rival garden centre is run by crooks who will stop at nothing to stop the Peppercorns and their nursery supplying the flowers. 

Meanwhile there is a delicious extra thread in this story featuring the nasty and corrupt school principal Mrs Sparks. Spoiler alert - when Lucy saves the day it is wonderful to see this horrid woman get her just desserts. 

Here is the book seller blurb: 'There were three things that marked out Lucy Willow as different. The first was that she lived on a train. The second was that she had a snail called Ernest as a pet. And the third, the most important of all, was that she had green fingers.' It's Lucy's green fingers that save the day when Silverboots McCoy the famous footballer and his girlfriend Blossom B order flowers for their wedding - for Ricky Sparks, who runs the rival garden centre, will stop at nothing to get the contract for himself. ... Lucy Willow has all Sally Gardner's soaring imagination, enchanting humour and great heart, and is rich in scenes and characters that readers will adore and remember.

My friend asked me to read this book, which was published in 2006, to decide it she should keep it in her library. We have both read and enjoyed other books by Sally Gardner (see below). I am always thrilled when asked to read a book for two reasons. Firstly, it means she trusts my judgement and that's a huge honour and secondly it means I read the book a little more carefully knowing I have to make informed comments.

You can see I have given Lucy Willow five stars because as an adult reader I really enjoyed this story but I am going to say this book could move out of the library now partly because it is a little old-fashioned and very English (some of the references might be confusing for an Australian child). The children who use this library are aged 4-7 and with 214 pages this book might seem a little too long. There are twenty-nine very short chapters and the story does simply rock along at a perfect pace rather like an old steam train but it has not been borrowed for over four years. The copy is not in very good shape and, as with most older paperbacks, the pages are no longer white. My copy has the purple cover which is perhaps also not especially appealing. You can preview parts of the text here. 

Here are some review comments:

'A great read. In 29 short chapters we escape to a world saved by a triumphant young horticulturalist and her eccentric and likeable family. Bailey's simple sketch illustrations, lightly sprinkled throughout the book, help to depict the rich array of characters.'

'a delightful story, full of juicy characters... the warm style'

'lively and intriguing... A rollicking read, with lots of twists and turns that will thrill younger readers.'

I do have some good news. This book is available as an ebook and also as an audio book (you can hear chapter one) and I do think, even though it is very English, it would be enjoyed in a family as a nighttime read aloud or on a car journey where you could all enjoy the audio version.

Here are the perfect companion books:

I previously talked about The Boy with Magic Numbers and The Boy with Lightning feet by Sally Gardner from her Magical Children series:

Read more here

Operation Bunny

Escargot by Dashka Slater illustrated by Sydney Hanson

"Bonjour! I see you are staring at me! I don't mind. My name is Escargot, and I am such a beautiful French snail that every stares at me."

Did you see my post about the Eric Carle exhibition featuring books that 'break the fourth wall'? That's where I saw this book mentioned and so this week I borrowed two from the series (actually there are three) and I fell in love with cheeky little Miss Escargot.

I love the way she speaks directly to the reader:

"Right now, I am traveling to the salad at the end of this book. It is a beautiful salad, with croutons and a light vinaigrette. You should come! I just need a little push to help me start."

She even invites you to give her a little kiss! 

And she explains why she should be your favourite animal. Also you do need to know it is very important to never put any carrot in a salad. Oh no by the end of the book you and Escargot do arrive at the salad with a few croutons and a light vinaigrette but oh no it contains carrot!

Watch out for the slime covered end papers! Read more on the author web page. There is a plush toy of little Escargot - it would be such fun to own this in your preschool or prep library. A couple of the titles are also available as Board Books. 

The spare but cheekily charming prose will make children and parents smile, and the refined watercolor illustrations will easily draw in readers. Everything is very chic and understated, as is befitting this continental French snail. Once you finish, children will want it read again, giving you the perfect chance to refine your French pronunciation. The Children's Book Review

This book begs to be read aloud - I wish I had been able to do that in my former school library. It was published in 2017 but the good news is all three books are still available. 

These books should be added to your library shelves - they are sure to be SO popular or if you see one of these in library grab it quickly and take it home to share with your young reading companions. 

I am not surprised to see that Escargot won a Wanda Gag Read aloud award. I said there are three books in this series but I now discover the fourth book - Escargot and the search for Spring. I am not sure if it is available yet. Here is a lesson plan for using Escargot to talk about persuasion. 

REVIEWS

Love Escargot "Breaking right through the fourth wall, the stylish snail encourages readers to embrace their snail selves . . . Sweet art means that when Escargot winsomely tells readers, 'You can kiss me if you like,' it’ll be hard for them to pass up the chance...  Though love and snails rarely go together, it’s easy to be won over by this mighty mollusk." Kirkus

What Stars are For by Margeaux Davis

Henry is a snail who loves to explore his environment during the night. He can burrow under fallen leaves, find water drops on spider webs, marvel at the construction of nest built by birds using twigs and he can see all of this because the moon lights his way. 

"But what are stars for? he would whisper to no one at all."

Because Henry has an unanswered question he decides to venture out in daylight and ask his question. The bee has no time for questions like this. The kookaburra thinks this is a ridiculous question. All the bandicoot can see is food - Henry quickly hides. Luckily there is someone wise who can help. That night Henry sees a wombat gazing up at the sky. He bravely asks his question one more time.

"Stars are for looking at together."

Sometimes in our rush to read a new book we forget to stop and look at other parts of the book such as the end papers and page layouts and colour palette. All of these features are beautifully designed in this book. You also need to stretch out the cover to see the front and back - the snail (his name is Henry) and on the back the wombat (her name is Celeste). This is also an example of a quiet story. Many years ago Mark McLeod talked about the importance of sharing quiet stories with our children. His comments inspired me to start a Pinterest on this topic. Think about the title too - the question is what are stars for but the title reverses this to what stars are for.

Here are the wonderful end papers which show the day and night setting for this story:

Image source: Instagram Telarahpslibrary

This book was published in 2024 so I am certain it will be a CBCA 2025 Notable title and I hope to also see it on their Early Childhood shortlist. Read more about Margeaux Davis. Take a look at this review. Make a plan to share this gentle story with a young reader today. Take a look at Instagram posts by Margeaux Davis. 

Companion book:

Where does Thursday go?

Here is small section of other picture books about stars. You can search for each of these titles using my side bar:

Snail by Minu Kim translated by Mattho Mandersloot

 

This is a gentle book with a big theme - growing up can be hard. The youngest brother really wants to ride his bike with the big boys but his legs are too small, his pushbike cannot go fast enough and soon he is left far behind. He keeps riding but then has an accident and all his pent up frustration of the ride and his brother's taunts and his own inability to ride fast enough comes pouring out.

But it can be okay to be small. The little boy spies a tiny snail climbing a tree and when he climbs up too he discovers a new perspective on the whole scene - he can see his way home and he can see small creatures (and boys) can be mighty.

From a visual literacy point of view it is interesting to see the way the first third of this book is done with black and white pencil sketches with the addition of tiny red spot colour used for the young boy's bike helmet so he is easy identify the hero of our story. Then about  two thirds of the way through the book, as the boy's anger cools, the sky fills with the colours of sunset. Make sure you stop to notice the tiny snail on the front and back end papers too. This echoes the theme that tiny things can have a big impact. Many pages of this book are wordless which I found meant I slowed down my reading and lingered over each scene. I also love the way the title on the cover looks as though it has been smudged by the wandering snail. 

Bookwagon adores Snail. Minu Kim’s debut picture book is a triumph, the illustrations initially reminding this reader of the works of Goscinny and Sempé, but then the perspective and use of line and sequence give way to a glorious, colourful philosophical reveal. We recommend Snail highly as a picture book to gift to all ages. It’s one to treasure, know and keep active in our minds and hearts.

What Snail knows by Kathryn Apel illustrated by Mandy Foot

Lucy has her dad. Her dad is a very private person. He tells Lucy not to talk about the way they live.

"It's just you and me, Lucy,' ...

Dad said the same thing he'd said

every 

time we'd

moved 

before.

'It's just you and me, Lucy. We 

don't need nobody else."

This text fragment comes from the first two pages of this gentle verse novel. In just two pages we learn Lucy has no mother but we don't yet know what has happened. We learn Lucy frequently moves to new schools but we don't know why. We learn Lucy only has her dad - there is no extended family. We learn that perhaps there is not much money because they only have their old brown car.

Later we learn mum has died and dad has built himself a protective shell to keep others out. But things are about to change. Lucy finds her first new friend - a little snail in the garden of the caravan park where she and her dad live in an old, battered caravan. At her new school, Lucy also makes another friend and in her new class, the teacher is simply wonderful. But poverty makes things hard.

That wearing

someone else's

faded old uniform

and shoes

with their stains 

and smells

makes me

want to crawl inside

a shell ...

Then something goes badly wrong. It can no longer just be Lucy and Dad. Others can help. Others will help. Her dad just has to say yes. 

As with all verse novels, there is a raw emotional edge to this book. Your heart will break for Lucy but it will soar when you read about the kindness she encounters from her new friend Tahnee, from Tahnee's mum, from the caravan park owner Mei Hui and from her teacher. 

The children in Lucy's Year Two class are working on a helpers project. They begin with helping at school; then helping at home (they keep a tally sheet of tasks); the children learn to cook a simple pie to share with their family; then the project extends to clearing up rubbish in the community; and finally everyone joins in with catching cane toads - "You catch. We kill ... kindly."  I love the way Kathryn Apel has added the theme of community action but in a really gentle and natural way as a perfect outcome from the class project which the teacher, the aptly named Miss Darling, has carefully designed. 

Here is a mystery. I regularly watch Colby Sharp from Michigan in America sharing the opening of hundreds of parcels on his YouTube channel. I am SO envious. Publishers send him such treasures. Last week I had a notification from the Post Office that a parcel was coming. Have you guessed? Yes it was a book and yes it was a free book and yes it was an advance copy from a publisher - so exciting and even better news this is a verse novel (you know I love them) and it is S P L E N D I D!  So huge thanks to UQP (University of Queensland Press) and whoever it was that put my name on their mailing list. The dedication lists our IBBY Australia President so perhaps that is who I need to thank.

What Snail Knows will be available on 1st March, 2022. I strongly suggest you add it to your shopping list right now. This book is a perfect package - it has an inviting cover, soft pencil drawings by Mandy Foot scattered throughout and the verse novel format makes this book easily accessible for readers aged 8+. Here is a set of really good teachers notes (but if I was still in my school library I would just put this book into the hands of a sensitive reader rather than dissecting is as a class novel).

If you want to explore the theme of poverty with a younger class my friend from Kinderbookswitheverything has a Pinterest of books linked with the Sustainablity Development Goal One - No Poverty. Here are some other verse novels for younger readers that I highly recommend:

Mina and the Whole Wide World

Blue Daisy

Little Dog, Lost

Where I live

Applesauce Weather

Pearl verses the World

Too Many Friends