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Montreal Gazette

Books for Kids: Leaf through these adventures from the world of plants

Books It's not unheard of for plant lovers to talk to their plants, but it is rare for those plants to talk back. In the books mentioned here, however, potted plants carry on entire conversations with their youthful caregivers — often with surprising results. Growing Home By Beth Ferry Illustrated by the Fan Brothers Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Ages 6 to 9 Number 3 Ramshorn Drive is home to Mr. and Mrs. Tupper, who buy and sell antiques, and their young daughter Jillian, who is going to be a botanist. It's also home to Jillian's plant Ivy, another plant named Ollie, a spider named Arthur, and a goldfish named Toasty who lives in a fish tank that turns out to be magical. (When Toasty splashes Ivy, she can move around the house and lift heavy objects; when he splashes Ollie, the latter can make things become invisible.) Beautifully written, Growing Home's 71 chapters zip along so smoothly that you'll be sorry when the book ends. By then, however, you'll have enjoyed the antics of all the characters and been swept up in their many adventures (including a break-in by a 'nefarious' would-be thief determined to steal Toasty's antique tank), you'll have expanded your vocabulary thanks to the author's thoughtful definitions, and you will probably have laughed out loud more than once at the clever turns of phrase and surprising twists of fate. A blurb on the cover declares this book to be 'an absolute delight.' That's not false advertising. And while the intended audience for this book is of elementary-school age, I can attest that even older readers well past any school age should read this book — especially if they'd like a break from the doom-and-gloom stuff that confronts them on a daily basis these days. Not only is Beth Ferry's storytelling a delight, but so are the numerous black-and-white illustrations by Toronto's Terry and Eric Fan throughout the 71 chapters. Enjoy! How to Talk to Your Succulent By Zoe Persico Tundra Books Ages 8 to 12 When Adara's mother dies in the middle of the school year, her dad packs their stuff into a trailer and says they're leaving California and going to live with Grandma in Michigan, but he doesn't tell his daughter it's because he can't bear to stay in their own home now that Mom is gone. He brings a lot of Mom's plants along and Adara recalls how her mother loved those plants and would have conversations with them. Adara herself had tried to talk to plants, but it wasn't until she and Dad moved to Michigan that she stumbled onto one in a greenhouse that spoke to her: a small purple succulent called Perle von Nurnberg. Dad buys it for her, she adds it to her mother's plants at Grandma's house, and discovers to her amazement that not only can she communicate with Perle, she can also converse with all the other plants. The result is a graphic novel about a child who learns to deal with loss and loneliness, finds a best friend in the process, and discovers that she has inherited her mother's kinship with plants. An author's note describes what prompted this book, and includes information about propagating succulents. My only regret is that nowhere is the reader told the child's mother died. Instead, we're told Mom 'passed' or 'passed away' or 'left so soon.' Why the euphemisms?