Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, Everyone!
It’s finally spring – really and truly! I saw tiny fluffy baby goslings on my way home from the barn yesterday! And I don’t know about you, but spring makes me think of mud! (Maybe because the horses at the barn where I work spend all their time rolling in it to rub loose the itchy hair of their winter coats! 🙂 )
In addition, today is Earth Day.
So what better day to celebrate a book about mud?! 🙂
(It is also my dad’s birthday, which has nothing to do with mud, but I’d like to take a quick moment to wish a very happy 87th birthday to the best dad I could ever have hoped to have! Happy Happy Birthday, Dad! 🙂 ❤ )
That’s my dad on the left – I’m the short one in the middle 🙂
So without further ado, today’s Perfect Picture Book!
Title: Bloom
Written By: Doreen Cronin
Illustrated By: David Small
Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, February 2016, Fiction
Suitable For Ages: 4-8
Themes/Topics: girl power, appreciation/gratitude, encouragement, believing in yourself
Opening: “Once upon a time, in a beautiful glass kingdom, there lived an unusual fairy named Bloom. Her boots were caked with mud. There was dirt between her teeth. Beetles rested in her wings. Bloom’s magic could spin sand into glass, turn weeds into blossoms, and grow a trickle of rainwater into a racing river. Bloom was a helpful creature, but her footsteps were HEAVY, and she left a trail of tiny cracks and mud wherever she went.”
Brief Synopsis: A glass kingdom is a tough place to be a Mud Fairy. Bloom and her mud fairy magic can turn weeds into flowers and spin sand into glass, but all the people of the kingdom do is complain about the trails of dirt and puddles of mud she leaves behind so, feeling unappreciated, she leaves. When the kingdom falls into disrepair, the King and Queen search out Bloom, but it takes the most “ordinary” girl in the kingdom to restore the magic.
Links To Resources: April is Kids’ Gardening Month (which is a little like playing in mud 🙂 ) so here are some resources to get kids outdoors to celebrate earth and gardens. Plant A Family Butterfly Garden, Big Seeds For Little Hands, Information & Resources For Gardening With Children
Why I Like This Book: This story has the delightful “Once upon a time” opening that creates the delicious anticipation of a fairy tale about to unfold. Bloom is an unusual fairy – dirty, willing to work hard, not traditionally “girly”. Genevieve, the “ordinary” girl whose only job has been to polish the queen’s crystal sugar spoon has never had the opportunity to discover what she’s capable of. Working alongside Bloom, she learns that she is anything but ordinary and that she can save the kingdom. Favorite line: “Tell them there is no such thing as an ordinary girl!” said Bloom.
For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!!
Susanna Leonard Hill 
Love your choice of PPB it sounds so cute and I already googled it Love the cover, too. Hey Happy Birthday to your Dad. The picture of you with him is very cute. Enjoy your spring as we head into our Autumn where the only things I love about it are the colours of the leaves. 🙂
What a lovely book for Earth Day – I love glass & flowers; usually I put the flowers in a glass vase, but combining the two in a kingdom sounds perfect! And adding a fairy and girl power in a once-upon-a-time story, seems almost too good to be true. Thanks for highlighting Bloom! And thanks, too, for sharing the adorable photo. Happy birthday to your dad.
I just read Bloom this week. It is really cute and a refreshing new fairy tale!
This sounds like a delightful book! If it has wellies and mud and beetles, I really MUST read it!
Happy Birthday to your dad! I want to get my hands on BLOOM.
I am going to click my heels together three times and repeat: “There’s no such thing as an ordinary girl!” I want to be a fairy with mud-caked boots!
Wonderful choice, Susanna. Hurray for girl power!
Bloom sounds wonderful! Happy birthday to your father – mine celebrated his 87th just 4mths ago. Have a wonder-filled weekend!
What a super fun book! I must get it. And I LOVE that picture of you with your father. So wonderful! I really need to pop in here more often, because your posts always make me happy. So happy Spring and Earth Day to you!!
Happy Birthday to your Dad 🙂 BLOOM is a perfect selection on Earth Day. Mud and dirt are the best. I still work in my garden and love it!
BLOOM is a wonderful story! Spring brings mud, yep, and blooms, and baseball! My pick is a story about events unknown to me. Picture books sure do educate and every child and adult should read this one. Happy Birthday to your dad Susanna!
That sounds fabulous! And Happy birthday to your dad x
Happy birthday to your dad! Bloom sounds extraordinary, like a perfectly perfect pick.
This is a cute book! I enjoyed it. Happy 87th to your dad. My dad will be 87 in June 😀