Wildflowers (Toon Easy-to-Read Comics, level two) by Ricardo Liniers. Toon, 2021. 9781943145539
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 4
Genre: Fantasy
What did you like about the book? Three sisters embark on an epic fantasy when their plane crashes on a jungle island. They find beautiful exotic wildflowers who talk (but only to the youngest sister), a tiny treehouse with a tiny “pocket gorilla,” a dragon and a mysterious temple. It slowly becomes evident to the reader that this is an epic adventure of imaginative play! It’s obvious at the end, when a parent calls them in for dinner.
Liniers’s beautiful artwork, done with India ink and watercolor, is the main focus, and one can easily enjoy the story without the dialogue. Short sentences in speech bubbles are easy to follow, especially when the big sisters explain longer words to the younger sister, and there are pages of graphic panels as well as full bleed spreads. The front endpapers show numbered wildflowers, as if part of a plant identification book, with the three girls included, as they are indeed wild flowers too. This is a lovely, artistic reader with a visual emphasis, and positive, loving sibling relationships.
Anything you didn’t like about it? No
To whom would you recommend this book? Offer to fans of the other Toon readers, and newly independent readers who enjoy graphic novels.
Who should buy this book? Elementary school and pubic libraries
Where would you shelve it ? Graphic fiction/graphic easy readers
Should we (librarians/readers) put this on the top of our “to read” piles? No
Reviewer’s Name, Library (or school), City and State: Stephanie Tournas, Robbins Library, Arlington, MA
Date of review: July 9, 2021
Youth Services Book Review 
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