Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Holly Bloom's Garden
Illustrator: Lori Mitchell
Picture Book
For ages 3 to 6
Flashlight Press, 2004 ISBN: 0972922504
Holly comes from a family of green thumbs. Her mother, her sister, and her brother all have the touch; they have all grown beautiful blooming gardens of flowers. For some reason though poor Holly cannot seem to make anything grow in her plot. Flowers she plants soon wilt, droop, and give up. It is a very frustrating and distressing situation for the girl but she doesn't give up.
Holly tires all sorts of things to try to make her flowers flourish, including painting her thumb green. She fertilizes, waters, tries using the "right tools", plants and plants some more. All to no avail. Then Holly has a burst of inspiration and she sets about creating a garden that is all her own, the kind of the garden that is suited to Holly Bloom.
We all would like to have certain skills and gifts but sometimes that just don't come naturally no matter how hard we try. Holly's inspired, and unique approach to having a garden of her own shows us how we can use our creativity to attain our dreams, and also how we sometimes need to gracefully accept that we cannot be good at everything. It is just a matter of finding our own unique, individual, talents.
Beautifully illustrated with a simple text and a warm message, this picture book is a real treasure.
