Mary Peterson

This is a short, heavily illustrated chapter book from the Aladdin Pix line. I believe most of these titles are now being offered in collections - this one can be purchased in a bind-up with the sequel, Snail finds a home. The description says "a new line of illustrated chapter books" but this was originally published in 2016, so I think they moved on to other things when they didn't get as much response as Scholastic's Branches series.

In Snail has lunch, Snail, a blue-shelled creature with long stalks and cartoon eyes, lives in a rusty bucket. He likes it there and refuses to move or explore elsewhere, no matter how much his friend Ladybug tries to coax him out. When the farmer walks off with Snail's rusty bucket, he is forced to explore and finds himself in the wonderful garden Ladybug told him about. Ladybug is there as well and she introduces Snail to new friends, tastes, smells, and ideas. Will Snail find a new home or will he return to his old bucket?

The art is created digitally and is bright, cheerful cartoons. There's not much detail and the simple shapes of the plants, creatures, and farmer are set against a white background. The text is a smaller, lighter font that can sometimes be hard to discern against the bland backgrounds and there are also additional speech bubbles.

I can see why this never took off - it just doesn't have the appeal and layout of Scholastic's Branches series. It's a cute story, but without much substance and the art isn't particularly memorable.

Verdict: If you are in need of more easy chapter books, it's an ok additional purchase and the new bind-ups are available in prebound. However, if you just want some gentle garden stories for young readers, Poppy and Sam by Cathon is a more attractive series.

ISBN: 9781481453028; Published 2016 by Aladdin; Borrowed from another library in my consortium… (mehr)

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