Molly Idle drew us in right away with the lovely pink hue on the outside, and the yellow on the inside. You can’t help but have your attention be taken to the stunning illustration on the cover, and the intricate detail in the font of the name Flora. It’s beautiful! My daughter and I gravitated towards this book right away. It had us from the cover, but would it keep us interested?
This book did not disappoint. The colour theme, and beautiful imagery greeted us on the inside of the book too. The incredible part of this book, that left me amazed, is that this book is wordless. Even without words a beautiful story is depicted across the pages. A story between Flora and the Flamingo.
You are subtly prepared for the journey you are about to take with the characters of this book when you read the tag line “Friendship is a beautiful dance.” on the inside jacket of the book. And dance you will as you make your way through the pages, you will dance along side Flora in her pink swimsuit and yellow swimming cap, and her unlikely friend the flamingo.
The book starts with the graceful flamingo posed and ready. Flora enters the stage feet first, wearing floppy, black flippers. These two are quite opposite of one another. The pages of this book provide wonderful opportunities for participation in seeing how the story unfolds. Everyone can participate in this dancing tale. There are many flaps throughout the book that fold down to show another image connected to the story. Just be careful with little hand helping during story time.
Learning to dance together did take some time, and a moment of forgotten manners. It did help to build a friendship between the two. As you work your way through all of the pages you will see a divide between Flora and the Flamingo start to disappear as they join each other on the same page, as they figure out how to dance together.
The illustration in this book so easily translate into ones own imagination, you cannot help but visualize it as a short film running through your mind. Flora reminds me so much of my own daughter and her determination to try new things, in her own unique way. This book was a good reminder that I need to always include her and let her take part even if things are done a little bit differently than how I usually like them. My daughter will always dance in her own unique way through all of life. Flora and the Flamingo is full of heart, and you will fall in love with it.
You will love seeing how this newly formed friendship ends in the book, but I will leave that for you to discover.
Flora and the Flamingo is by Molly Idle. The book is published by Chronicle Books. You can purchase Flora and the Flamingo here.
This book was provided to me by Raincoast Books in order to facilitate a review. The opinions and words shared are all my own.