Daisy Rewilds
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A young, curious, science-loving environmentalist named Daisy proves to her community the importance of conservation in this whimsical and hopeful story.
Daisy was born with a green thumb. As an infant, she composted her own baby food. As a toddler, she slept on a bed of leaves. Now she’s embarking on her most important experiment: she’ll plant herself on her manicured front lawn, stay put, and let nature take over.
What happens is a blooming miracle.
With a little help from expert gardener Auntie Betsy, Daisy thrives. Sunflowers grow in her hair, moss grows between her toes, hummingbirds buzz in her bee balm. Soon Daisy’s front yard is a haven for native grasses and flowers, for pollinating insects, for birds, even for lowly worms. And that’s when her real work begins.
In this funny and whimsical story about restoring natural habitats, one tenacious girl passionately leads her own conservation efforts, helping the land heal itself, and teaching her community about the importance of nurturing wild places.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A "born naturalist," redheaded young Daisy is delighted to discover that when she skips bathing for five weeks, moss sprouts behind her ear and seeds start taking root. Daisy's literal blooming alarms her parents, but horticulture-loving Auntie Betsy is all in, and together they transform Daisy into a walking garden. "By July, pussytoes were shooting from her shoulders, and fleabane was dancing on her wrists," writes McNamara (The Bug Girl), and as the child continues to sprout, pollinators and birds flock to her flourishing form. Ink and watercolor illustrations by Kerascoët (I Walk with Vanessa) exude sunny abundance and playful grace, showing Daisy fully embracing her "rewilding" as an expression of both budding autonomy and green principles. After a summer of glorious growing, Daisy replants her offshoots throughout the neighborhood, transforming the previously manicured suburban landscape into a haven of indigenous plants. There was a time when children were told to wash in order to avoid growing potatoes behind their ears; this sustainability fable seems to turn a variation on that old warning into a child's triumph and a community's ecological awakening. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. A note about rewilding concludes. Ages 4–8. Author's agent: Brenda Bowen, Book Group. Illustrator's agent: Kirsten Hall, Catbird Productions.
