Lovely review on BooksForKeeps

There’s a gorgeous review of Dandelion on BooksForKeeps. I find reviews so interesting - the different things people pick up on! Here’s the link, and the review is pasted below. It’s also BfK’s book of the week. Hurray!!

Books for Keeps is a UK-based independent children’s book magazine that has been going for more than forty years. With six issues a year and a tremendous online archive, you can find reviews, interviews and book news from the UK and around the world.

That's It! Said the Dandelion

Author: Nicola Reddy

Illustrator: Róisín Hahessy

BfK rating: *****

In lyrical (non-rhyming) text, and via vibrant illustrations, this inspiring picture book introduces young children to the life cycle of a dandelion, but shows them much more besides. It opens with a dandelion seed falling onto soft grass. ‘What can I be?’ she asks a passing snail, and as she grows, she comes up with answers to the question drawing on what she observes around her. Her roots are strong and deep she notes, so she decides she must be a tree, or noting her jagged, toothy leaves, decides she must be a lion; when her crown of yellow flowers bursts open, she decides she must be the sun. Night falls and she closes up, releasing new seeds in the morning, deciding she is the stars as they fly away for the cycle to start again as the seeds float through the meadow on their ‘pappus parachutes.’ Pages at the end share more information about dandelions, where they grow, how pollinators love them, also referenced in the story. The extras contained in the narrative however are to do with growth, change, working out who you are. Parents might also identify with the dandelion watching her seeds float away to start their own journeys of discovery. A rewarding reading experience for home and school.