Description
A delightful celebration of family, plants, and the boundlessness of love told in lively, poetic letters from aunt to niece with bright, irresistible illustrations!
Every month, an aunt mails a letter and a houseplant to her niece and . . . LOVE GROWS!
I'm sending this pothos, so while we're apart, you'll look at its leaves and know you're in my heart.
In the vein of We Are the Gardeners and Dear Girl, this beautiful story is the perfect gift for Valentine’s Day, birthdays, graduation, and more! Young readers and gardeners will also love the sidebars on each spread with fun and informative facts about the plants.
About the Author
Ruth Spiro is the author of over 30 children’s books, including the best-selling Baby Loves Science series, How to Explain Coding to a Grown-Up, and Made by Maxine. Her books have been praised by The Los Angeles Times, NPR, TODAY, Popular Science, and the National Science Teaching Association. Ruth speaks regularly at schools and early childhood conferences across the country. She lives in suburban Chicago, Illinois, with her husband, two daughters, and many, many plants! www.RuthSpiro.com.
Lucy Ruth Cummins made her author-illustrator debut with the ALA Notable picture book A Hungry Lion, or A Dwindling Assortment of Animals. She has also illustrated This Is Not a Valentine, written by Carter Higgins, and The Love Letter, written by Anika Aldamuy Denise, as well as wrote and illustrated Stumpkin. As a teenager, Lucy taught herself how to type on an old-fashioned typewriter with just her toes, and even wrote a few love letters this way! The youngest of six children, she was born in Canada, where she lived in an actual log cabin; she was raised in Upstate New York and currently lives with her little family in Brooklyn, New York. Visit her online at www.lucyruthcummins.squarespace.com.
Praise For…
The combination of accurately depicted plants with occasional silly rhymes and loving endearments make for a delightful balance of education and fun. This book brims with both warmth and information. A sweet introduction to houseplants. — Kirkus Reviews
A picture book about the love between a niece and her aunt, told through a year’s worth of letters and gifts. The letters are told in rhyme and include feelings of familial love and plant care tips. — School Library Journal
Foliage proves the food of love for a child recipient in this epistolary primer on how to cultivate the spirit of Valentine’s Day any time of year. Spiro and Cummins tenderly vine a green-thumb vibe through every scene. — Publishers Weekly
Spiro's epistolary rhyming text makes for a delightful reading experience, and each delivery features a tag serving as identification and descriptor of the gifted plant. Splashy illustrations in gouache, colored pencil, and crayon have an appealing scribbly quality that feels casual and inviting. Sure to make a budding botanist out of any young reader. — Booklist
This book should not be missed by young green thumbs or by aunts and uncles with special nieces or nephews, although they may want to plan for a trip to the nursery. — San Francisco Book Review