A LITTLE SHELF LOVE
by Mara Altman ; illustrated by Reesa Baxter
A houseplant learns to embrace her own qualities in Altman’s picture book.
Pothos plant Poe is new to the kitchen shelf and is content to soak in the sun’s rays…until she notices the other plants. Annie the Anthurium has lovely blooms; try as she might, Poe can’t grow her own. Likewise, she copies Rose the rosemary plant by dropping her leaves on a pizza, and Tilly the Tillandsia by trying to live in open air. Poe works her way through imitating every single other plant, but she always fails due to her natural features. Her wake-up call comes when her pot ends up on the floor after she takes a dive straight off the ledge in an attempt to act like the Venus flytrap. Cactus Kenneth tells her, “Root into your own way of being,” and this inspires her to make the most of her existing traits to find a permanent, comfortable place on the shelf. Altman effectively teaches the importance of accepting yourself as you are. Young plant lovers will enjoy the inclusion of phonetic pronunciations of the plants’ species, as well as the different characteristics of each that Poe’s misadventures highlight. Baxter’s illustrations set the story in a bright, 1970s-style kitchen and provide each plant with a visible personality that readers might otherwise miss from the text.
A cute but meaningful picture book delivering a classic message in an original way.