Product Details
Holly Bloom's Garden

Holly Bloom's Garden
By Sarah Ashman, Nancy Parent

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Product Description

The luminous garden scenes and playful language in this tale of late-blooming self-discovery tell the story of Holly Bloom, a girl who wants nothing more than to be a great gardener, but simply doesn’t seem to have the knack. Despite suggestions and support from her green-thumbed mom and siblings, Holly just can't get her garden to bloom. She waters and fertilizes and uses all the right gardening tools, but her daffodils don't grow and her daisies keep drooping. Armed with a positive attitude and unwavering perseverance, Holly finally realizes that she does not need to grow flowers with soil and seeds to be a success. Inspired by her artistic father, she taps into her natural creative abilities and surprises everyone by growing her own unique garden—from paper, paste, pipe cleaners, and paint!

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #1404029 in Books
  • Published on: 2004-04-01
  • Original language: English
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 32 pages

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2–Holly Bloom is called "Sweetpea" by her mom and "Ladybug" by her dad. She longs to grow flowers like those of her mother, Iris, and siblings, Rosie and Bud, but she doesn't seem to have the knack. Everything she plants either wilts or droops. Finally, in a burst of inspiration, she creates a glorious garden out of tissue paper, crepe paper, and pipe cleaners that is "guaranteed to last forever." This is a satisfying resolution to a story of perseverance and self-discovery. However, the writing style is a bit precious, and the characters' overly cute names detract from the tale's merit. Lush, detailed drawings in pencil and acrylics fill the pages with sunny cheer.–Sally R. Dow, Ossining Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
PreS-Gr. 2. Holly Bloom comes from a gardening family, but she seems to have a brown thumb. Her mother tells her that some flowers, like some people, are late bloomers, but no matter how hard Holly tries, she still manages to sneeze away the fertilizer and overwater the plants. Finally, Holly sees a way to grow flowers that plays to her strengths: shutting herself in her father's art studio, she makes brilliant paper flowers that fill up the room. The ink-and-watercolor pictures are light and colorful, with, of course, a profusion of flowers filling the pages. A particularly pleasing picture framed in berries and leaves features Holly trying to paint her thumb green. Simply plotted and with a worthwhile message (though it's a bit overstated), the story will resonate with children who may have problems standing out in a family or who haven't found the activity they shine at yet. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Family Journal
"Full of vibrant illustrations. . .charming."

Customer Reviews

Charming and Clever5
I've shared this book a dozen times with my 6-year-old son. He gets greatly discouraged when things don't bloom after he's planted seeds, so "Holly Bloom's Garden" gave him the idea of making his own flowers. The book's illustrations are warm and charming and Ashman and Parent tell a good story that should appeal to both boys and girls.

Great "Read Aloud"5
As a Kindergarten teacher, I appreciated the beautiful illustrations in this book. The students in my class were kept guessing throughout the book as we tried to predict how Holly would solve her problem. When we turned to the page showing Holly's paper garden, there were many "oohs" and "aahs" on the rug. Wonderful story for this age group!

Holly Bloom's Garden Blooms!5
This is a beautiful book for children of all ages. I have three nieces ranging in age from 4 to 13 and each enjoyed it at a different level. Wonderful illustrations support a fun and inspiring story. I highly recommend this book!