Plenty of Petals

Dahl, Michael. Plenty of Petals. Illustrated by Zachary Trover. Picture Window Books 2006. ISBN 1-4048-1317-9 $7.95. Ages 4-8

This fun story with numbers hidden in the images sends readers on a quest guessing where the next number is hiding. Finn, a young bear starts his exciting journey home from the hospital with “ONE HUNDRED petals in the vase” and counts down by tens giving them away. Trover uses digitally created illustrations to show the texture and color of the ONE HUNDRED petals along with each of the characters fur, compelling the reader to reach out and touch the pictures. Trover does a superior job arranging this story in repetition for young students, along with his use of quirky vocabulary to keep their interest. As the story comes to an end, and Finn gives away his last daisy, he realizes that “From now on, I’ll only skateboard outside.”

Britnie Allen, BGSU student