Monday, June 20, 2011

Book Review & Giveaway: Too Many Blooms (Petal Pushers, Book 1)

By Catherine R Daly
Published by Scholastic
Released on March 1st, 2011
Ages 8-12
Source- ARC from publisher for review
5 stars- Great Series for Young Readers

Four sisters. One family-owned flower shop. Endless opportunities for fun...or disaster!

This fresh new series is full of girl--and flower--power.

Delphinium "Del" Bloom loves her grandparents' flower shop, where it's always peaceful and calm--unlike her cluttered house, where her three sisters--Rose, Aster, and Poppy--constantly cause drama. But then Gran and Gramps move away and leave the flower shop in the care of Del's scatterbrained parents! Their first order is for a big wedding and the bride wants everything--especially the flowers--to be PERFECT. Worse, the mean girl in Del's class happens to be a junior bridesmaid! Can Del help her family and save the day?

I love the cover on this book! It matches the story perfectly. This is such a fun read and one I wish I had when I was younger. I enjoyed getting to know Del and her close knit family, who do a lot together and are always helping each other out. Del's family dynamics reminded me a bit of my family when I was growing up. She's close with her mom, dad, sisters and grandparents, who get together each week for family movie night. Del also loves to help out in her Grandparent's locally owned flower shop on Saturday's, a shop that's been in the family for years. It wasn't hard to fall in love with Del. She's relatable, funny, very responsible and a relatable character.

Things change for Del when her Grandparents head off to FL. Its hard for Del to accept that they're gone, and even harder for her to realize that it's okay for her mom to run the flower shop the way she wants to. Through the course of the story Del learns the importance of working together as a family. I loved being able to be apart of her world for a bit. It was fun to see what middle school was like for her. She has some great friends, her first crush, and she has to deal with the school's Queen Bee, aka Ashley, who's less than friendly towards Del. What I loved about Del is that she stands up for herself and towards the end of the story when something happens to Ashley, Del does the unthinkable and helps her. There's also a sweet, innocent crush between Del and Hamilton, who by the way is a fabulous character to meet.

I really adored this story and I'm really looking forward to following Del her story with the rest of the series. This is a series I look forward to reading with my daughter and I highly recommend picking it up.

_______________________________

Thank you to Scholastic, we have a copy of Too Many Bloomers we're giving away! To enter, please fill out the form below:

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. ~ Anna Quindlen

Good children's literature appeals not only to
the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.
~ Anonymous ~