Flower, Why Do You Smell So Nice?

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1-These disappointing books attempt to answer common questions, but readers will be left more confused than informed. The titles follow the same format: a narrative exchange between an animal and the subject of the book. In Flower, a bee says it's a beautiful day to go for a "walk," and a flower mentions that she is "delicious," referring to her nectar. The dialogue is never attributed to either character. Icons are sometimes used to distinguish the speaker (Rain has a drop of water and a frog; Wind has a picture of a breeze with leaves swirling and a little bird); however, this back-and-forth style will go right over the heads of many children. In one double-page spread, readers are asked to match the blossoms on fruit trees to the actual fruits, but the peach and the apricot look alike. To add to the confusion, one of the pages is written in a cursive beeline that is difficult to decipher. While parts of Wind are informative, the writing is unfocused and disorganized, especially when the text skips from naming different types of winds-"nor'easter" and "Santa Ana"-to a discussion of Mary Poppins and the Wizard of Oz. The die-cut cover art may draw readers, but they will be better served by Nancy Carlstrom's What Does the Rain Play? or How Does the Wind Walk? (both S & S, 1993) or David Burnie's Flowers (DK, 1992).-Blair Christolon, Prince William Library, Manassas, VA