WATCH ME BLOOM

Twenty-four haiku / link flowers and mindfulness / in every season!

In the same spirit as her My Mindful A to Zen: 26 Wellbeing Haiku for Happy Little Minds (2021), Patel-Sage addresses readers with haiku that only seem to be about flowers: “Snowdrop,” for instance—“Pushing up through snow / these delicate flowers are / stronger than they look”—likely refers obliquely to a child using a wheelchair in the accompanying illustration. Similarly, a child poses heroically in front of “proud and confident” hollyhocks, the value of “Borage” as a companion plant is reflected in the intimate glance two young gardeners exchange, and cherry blossoms “gently fall like a / joyful springtime gift” over one child receiving a folded paper crane from another. Along with being racially and culturally diverse, the smiling, wide-eyed cast includes a youngster using a prosthetic limb, an adult couple of ambiguous gender in a Christmas scene, and what appears to be a same-sex couple in a Hindu-style wedding. “Floral Fun Facts” about some of the selected flowers at the end add light doses of lore and natural science. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A bright bouquet of poems, petals, and values.