My daughter (6) and myself enjoyed this book so much as an ebook that we bought the book also. The colors and illustrations really helped to bring this story to life in our minds and opened up our imaginations. I know it wasn't ment for my daughter's age and some of it was over her head, but again the images were outstanding.

This was sooo cute! Even though my arc was black and white the story and the vibrancy still came through. I hope we get more books set in this world in the future, assuming it wasn't all a dream!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Cute book about kids who want to plant a garden because they hear the bees are in trouble. When they are done they are tired and take a nap and have a lovely adventure.

I received an electronic ARC from ABRAMS Kids through NetGalley.
Anna invites Tess to come over and plant flowers to help bees to start the book. Together they plant flowers and wait for them to grow. An adventure awaits when they doze and wake up to discover an entire garden has grown. Readers see that the two have shrunk and set off on an adventure with a surprise third character. Kurilla slips in information about how bees are so important to agriculture. She also offers a lesson in how to treat friends. Anna ignores any concerns Tess shares until Tess speaks up for herself. Even then, Anna leaves her friend behind until she realizes what she has done. The illustrations are detailed and lovely and add to the overall storyline.

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced
3.0

Thanks to NetGalley for This Arc.

This is going to be beautiful in color. Wow! I will say that this graphic novel is great for emerging readers (potentially first through second grade). The text is simple and clear and the drawing do a lot to convey a sense of fun and wonder as well as movement throughout the pages.

The messages in this book for the young readers might be a bit unclear as Anna and Tess decide to plant flowers to save the bees. The conflict arrives from a friendship disagreement which starts right at the beginning so it is a bit difficult to understand the friendship.

Overall, I would recommend this book to those who are reading by themselves or for caretakers who could also read along with their kids as there are talking points regarding bees disappearing as well as being a good friend.

One of the sweetest stories that a person can read to start the year! I greatly enjoyed reading a tale of friendship and when to respect boundaries. Anna asks for her friend Tess's help in planting a garden for bees, even though Tess is scared of bees, One encounter with a fairy later, and Anna wants to go down the ant tunnels, LITERALLY. Sometimes you have to listen when a friend says no, especially when the sun goes down.

This is such a cute story! It's in the style of a graphic novel and would work well for storytime with children or for kids who are just learning how to read. The images are beautiful and it's fun to imagine a tiny, magical world right beneath our feet. This would be especially good around springtime and could be used as a fun book to go along with talking about gardening, plants, ecosystems, and pollination.

The Flower Garden is a beautifully illustrated, short tale perfect for upper elementary aged children. There were many important themes addressed. Would love to read a sequel!

I adored this book! I really thought it was so sweet and special. It was a quick, whimsical read that anyone could take for a dream or summer induced heat reverie. But how else would the flowers bloom so quickly?

3.75 stars. A short and sweet tale with beautiful illustrations - which I look forward to seeing in full colour! Some important messages touched on in terms of the environment, standing up for yourself, and compromising with friends so that everyone can do an activity they enjoy. Would have loved for this to have been longer and explored the May’s world more as well as focusing on the important messages in a bit more depth.

Though realistic, I felt like Tess wasn't a very good friend and she doesn't even apologize (guess it'd be weird to apologize for your dream...) I'm not sure I really want our young patrons to feel like it's normal and ok to treat your friend like that.
There is a teeny tiny environmental message but then the story kind of goes a different route.
The art is beautiful and will be even better in color when published and it is an easy read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced electronic copy of this delightful book. This is an adorable graphic novel for the youngest readers about friendship, adventure, and magic. Beautiful illustrations would look even better in full color when the book is published.

**Thank you to NetGalley and ABRAMS Kids/Amulet Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my rating**

In my job, I work with kids of all ages. In order to better meet their needs, I'm working on reading some books at younger levels to have available to recommend. The Flower Garden is a perfectly cute graphic novel, but I would've liked more pages to be able to fully tell the story.

If I had to categorize this, it's a Magical Realism tale about Anna and Tess, two friends who plant flowers in Anna's garden to help save the bees. Along the way, they meet a garden gnome named May, who uses her magic to grow the flowers quickly and shrinks the girls down to her size. They go on an adventure.

My biggest pro for the book is that it's artwork is very well done and is cute. I loved the beautiful illustrations in this title and would recommend checking out the art on its own.

The plot, however, was a little lackluster for me, especially for younger audiences who won't be able to intuit the supposed "lesson" so much without it being more explicit, I think. Anna and Tess are friends, but I'm not really sure why. Anna is very adventurous and spontaneous whereas Tess is cautious and easily frightened. They don't do anything in the book where they both seem to be having fun, which is what causes me to question this relationship. Anna is straight up a bad friend, never listening or taking into account what Tess has to say (which Tess eventually calls her out for). She doesn't understand she's a bad friend until she's treated by May the way she's been treating Tess. She doesn't really apologize so much as just ask Tess if she wants to pick their next thing. I would've liked to see her explicitly say "I'm sorry I was a bad friend for not listening to you. I'll do this next time. Would you like to choose what we do next?" instead of the rushed feeling ending that was presented. Tess is a wet blanket who is afraid of literally everything they come into contact with, which makes Anna feel like she's being held back. There isn't a happy medium. Just to flesh this character arc out, easily another 25-30 pages could have been added. May is just kind of this magical thing that happens. She reminds me of a lot of the inhabitants of the Candy Kingdom in Adventure Time (i.e. magical, but also very self-interested).

I think the story is cute and the artwork is worth giving it a look, but I wouldn't gift this to someone's child unless I planned to discuss with them what they think about the main characters (e.g. "Would you want to be friends with Tess or Anna? Why or why not? What did you like best about the adventure with May? What did you like least?" etc.) Definitely is a title that I think the intended audience will need some adult help to fully engage with.

2.5 stars (rounded up to 3 for GR)

This was super cute and fun! It might be a little young for most of my middle schoolers but I'm sure some would enjoy it. After all, I did and I'm an adult.

I think this was a really delightful story about patience, friendship, and the magic of everyday life. Also, there was a cat! This is the sort of book I would've adored as a little girl, and it makes me happy to know it'll make another little kid just as happy when it's released. I loved the imagery, the magic, and all the gnomes! I'm super excited to check this out in full color when it's released. My only issue is I wish we learned more about the main characters' friendship. I wanted to know more. How long have they been friends? When did they meet? I thought their bond was so sweet and would've been even better if we knew just a little more.

Overall, this was cute and fun, if a little too young for our library. Still, I'll recommend it when I can and definitely get my hands on it when it's released so I can take in all its colorful glory.

The Flower Garden is a sweet graphic novel about respecting and listening to friends with a side theme about the importance of bees. The illustrations are adorable, and I especially loved the ones detailing the underground dwellings of the gnomes and animals.

This was a really adorable book! It follows two friends that plant a packet of seeds and fall asleep while waiting for those seeds to grow into flowers. And in their dreams they go on quite the adventure!

What I loved about this story was how beautifully illustrated it was. It really made me admire all the little aspects of nature that I haven't taken the time to appreciate in a while. While I adored the artwork in the ARC, I cannot wait to see how vivid the story will look once the book is published in full color!

I also really appreciated the two subtle themes woven throughout the story, both about the interaction of different plants and animals and the importance of nature, and the other equally as vital message of the importance of listening to you friends, even when you disagree!

I would definitely recommend this short, beautiful book!

The illustrations in this are really beautiful. Anna and Tess are best friends who go on a magical adventure in the flower garden. Tess is more hesitant than Anna and so it helps show how friendships help us take risks and learn things we might be afraid of. But it also shows that sometimes we need to do what our friend wants to do and how much we appreciate them when they are gone. I would love more from these two and this fun little garden world.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC!

"It's an emergency," Anna tells Tess. "We have to save the bees." Like any good friend, Tess hurries to help Anna, but she has a few hesitations. When a gnome comes along and invites the friends on a new adventure, it's Anna's turn to realize that being a good friend means being a good listener.

I loved so many things about this little book. The illustrations are simply marvelous. Both Anna and Tess are strong characters with unique voices and believable designs. The plot is a little cliche, but it works perfectly along with the character development and themes to create something that is really worth reading. It's written carefully to appeal to the reading level of kids who are moving beyond easy readers but aren't quite ready for chapter books yet. I'll definitely be keeping this one on my second and third grade shelf.

A super sweet story of two friends and a little magic in their garden. The art is bright and so captivating! I loved the friendship lesson here, and the cute characters. Shallow, but sweet all the same.

A playful adventure for young readers, filled with friendship and wonder, and packed with vibrant illustrations.