Prunella
Honestly, the illustrations almost chased us away from this book. But Prunella is great. My little one asks for this one a lot.
The drawings are colorful and realistic in a way, artsy in a way. It’s a style we appreciate and that using various types of strokes and colors can reflect emotion and motion of the story well. The only reason they almost turned us away from the book was because they actually reflect the feeling of the book properly.
While we have a few thoughts that kept the book from being a favorite, the story has a great message. It stresses loving yourself for who you are and not turning away. Finding people and situations that embrace and reflect who you are. It’s about self-confidence and even has a few messages for parents of children who aren’t average, or who don’t look or act like a lot of other children. Children who are different. That different is not always a bad thing.
The book also has word plays, which we love, and an educational aspect with specific or scientific details about the plants Prunella loves with her “purple thumb.”
Cautions: There’s just a slight crabbiness or slight darker feeling from the plants Prunella likes and the isolation she feels from enjoying plants that others don’t enjoy as much until she finds her friends and while it’s fine as my little one is a bit older, I didn’t want my little one feeling those emotions at a very early age. There is also a small section of the story where Prunella is a bit crabby and I don’t like the idea of my little one imitating how Prunella treated her soon to be friends.
