To celebrate the publication of the illustrated chapter book, Poppy Goes Wild, I am kick starting the blog tour with Little Steps publishing alongside other fellow bloggers.
I was excited to read this book with my girls especially (Baby is approaching 1 and my girls are 6 and 4). Our bedtime reads have been varied recently with a mix of picture books and illustrated chapter books. Though my 6 year old would be able to read Poppy Goes Wild herself, we’ve had great fun reading a few pages of this book each night and we all want to befriend Poppy.
Poppy is a vibrant, energetic, thoughtful character who wants to bring about much change to her grandfathers farm. She often goes to visit her grandfather and stays with him at the farm. Poppy is environmentally and nature conscious and she has a great idea of turning the farm wild again.
Poppy’s conversations with her grandfather have him reminiscing about how things used to be when he was younger. How the farm used to be full of wild flower meadows, berries to pick and many a bird coming to visit but now things are different. However, together they bring about much change and work like a dream team.
The book brilliantly shares detailed descriptions of all that Poppy has to do for her dream to come into fruition. Readers are realistically told the many jobs that Poppy and her grandfather have to complete including destroying the artificial riverbank, cutting grass, cleaning the river making it visitor friendly and much more. Throughout the book author Nick Powell weaves in factual information about farm life and includes the names of many birds and animals which may well encourage readers to further research. Also, in addition to that readers witness a precious relationship between a grandfather and their grandchild. They have mutual respect for each other and Poppy isn’t shy to be a little cheeky too especially when wanting to drive her grandfathers tractors.
The book is a treat to read aloud and the illustrations by Becca Hall complete the book brilliantly. From the detailed farm map for the endpapers to the gentle nature filled illustrations, the art work brings the story to life.
As part of the blog tour Becca Hall has created a wonderful video of how to sketch Poppy. It’s brilliant to see Poppy transforming into her character. Perhaps you or your reader would like to give sketching Poppy a go. This video will prove very helpful.
For the next coming days the blog tour will continue so do check out special pieces from fellow picture book enthusiasts. More details can be found below.
Dislaimer: I received a copy of the book from the publisher for the purpose of review. All words and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.