Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
"Lisle's blend of gentle fantasy and tough reality features two motherless children spending the summer with their dithering but well-meaning great-aunt," wrote PW. Ages 8-12. (Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Gr 3-6-After their mother's death, Olivia and her troubled younger sister are sent to their elderly Aunt Minty's house, where an old storybook inspires a magical quest that begins a journey of healing and discovery. (June) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
School Library Journal
Gr 3-6Starting with a conventional premisetwo children having to stay with an elderly aunt, to the dismay of both generationsLisle moves into a story set in her favorite area, the borderland between reality and fantasy. Her title is also the title of a story in Aunt Mintys childhood storybook, which becomes for nine-year-old Olivia and her very complicated little sister a sorely needed catalyst for change. In that story, angry fairies change some children into flowers and they can only regain their human form if every piece of china from their last ill-fated tea party is found hidden or buried in the garden. Adults will see what is happening as the search brings the girls new friends and interests, but for young readers, the results are magical. The three main characters are well drawn, particularly anxious, protective Olivia and her troubled little sister, who has retreated into ritual to keep scary reality at bay. In this short tale, Lisle has created a warmly satisfying story of lost things, and people, waiting to be found.Ruth S. Vose, San Francisco Public Library Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Seamlessly weaves the longings of two motherless children with the possibilities ofthe imagination. (Kirkus Reviews, pointer review)
Martha V. Parravano
[A] tantalizing, delicately told book that trembles on the edge of fantasy.
— The Horn Book Magazine
Kirkus Reviews
In the overgrown beds of a neglected garden, two sisters listen to the whispers of flowers and learn to love and trust again. When their mother dies, Olivia, nine, and Nellie, five, are taken by their father to live, temporarily, with their great-aunt Minty. Olivia is protective of Nellie, whose rules and rituals must be enforced in order to maintain the peace. After Aunt Minty discovers a blue teacup in her once-splendid garden, Olivia stumbles across a story written by the former owner of the house, in which a group of children were turned into flowers by evil fairies during a tea party. The similarities between the story and the garden are too pronounced to be ignored, and Olivia and Nellie resolve to find all the tea cups in the garden, and then the teapot, hoping to reverse the spell in the tale; in the process, Nellie is transformed from a rule-obsessed child into a more normal state. Olivia suspects that Aunt Minty is behind all their discoveries, but is finally happy to relinquish her caretaker role. Ichikawa's black-and-white pencil drawings capture the impish look of the wicked fairies, the delicate detailing of the tea set, and the drowsy heads of overlooked blossoms. Signs that the enchantment will continue are written into the ending, in a tale that seamlessly weaves the longings of two motherless children with the possibilities of the imagination. (Fiction. 9-12)
School Library Journal - Audio
Gr 3–6—Nine-year-old Olivia and her younger sister Nellie don't want to go live with their great-aunt for the summer, but they have no choice since their mother has recently died and their father has to travel for work. Nellie makes things more difficult because she stubbornly refuses to do anything that breaks her self-proclaimed "rules," like going downstairs facing front or eating certain foods. Aunt Minty does her best, but Olivia has a full-time job placating Nellie. The sisters find an old blue teacup while digging in their aunt's overgrown garden. Then Olivia finds a book with a story about eight children at a tea party who were turned into flowers by fairies. The spell can only be broken if all the teacups and the teapot are dug up from the garden and reunited. Olivia and Nellie slowly start digging up the other teacups in the weeds and overgrown flowers of the garden and in the process begin to heal. Caitlin Davies narrates Lisle's story within a story (Philomel, 1999) with a unique voice for each character that brings out their personalities.—Teresa Wittmann, Westgate Elementary, Edmonds, WA
