GROW YOUR OWN WAY

A garden tour serves as a vehicle for celebrating readers’ individuality.

Each page features a rhyming couplet that highlights the differences between plants that mostly grow side by side. The first spread compares jasmine, a climbing vine, with periwinkle, a ground cover, while later couplets contrast morning glories and moonflowers, which bloom during the day and night, respectively, and “spiky” catmint and “soft” hydrangeas. While the implication is that all of these flowers are in the same garden, the book also compares poppies, which grow in dry climates, with irises, which need lots of rain. After listing these differences, the book implies that these plants thrive by focusing on their own growth and self-worth rather than comparing themselves to others. Finally, readers are told that they, too, are perfect just the way they are and are encouraged to grow into who they were always meant to be. The lush, vibrant, minutely detailed illustrations will capture the curiosity of very young readers: The birds and insects that dot the pages are particularly impressive. Although the text is charming, however, it isn’t particularly original, and, on the first read, the transition to the lesson of self-celebration at the end feels abrupt. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A beautifully illustrated but awkwardly told board book about blooming as you are.