Review: Millie Fleur's Poison Garden

By Christy Mandin

New York: Orchard Books, 2024. Picture Book.

The town of Garden Glen is "a picture-perfect place," which means that everything is lovely, perfect, and exactly the same. Except for the the decrepit old house on the edge of town where no one has lived for years. Until Millie Fleur La Fae and her mother move in. Millie loves her new house, but it's missing one thing. Millie Fleur sets to work planting a wicked and wonderfully wild garden filled with plants like "sore toothwart," and "grumpy gillyflower." And though the uptight town elders deride her garden as "poisonous," the other kids in town start to show interest -- which eventually trickles into the other gardens in town.

This is a simple and sweet picture book that would be so fun to share with children during spooky season. The illustrations are charming and Tim Burton-esque, with a protagonist who resembles Wednesday Addams, yet the pictures still feel original. Children will love to study the illustrations with each re-reading. A bonus is an author's note at the end that explains the author was inspired by a real life Poison Garden.

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