(2) K-3 Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Largely forgotten today, American writer Celia Laighton Thaxter enjoyed a significant literary career in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Both her life and her writing revolved around Maine's Appledore Island, and it is here that this picture-book biography takes root. Thaxter comes alive as a gardener from her earliest years (when the family lived on White Island), coaxing blooms to life amid the rocks, with vivid colors punctuating Root and Schmidt's narrative: "Pink morning glories opened to the sun, and Celia found green moss and purple starfish in rocky pools." Sweet's illustrations follow the text's lead, depicting the main character ankle-deep in a tide pool surrounded by bright, stylized flowers in purples, pinks, oranges, and reds. Both Celia and the island backdrop are dressed in muted gray-greens, causing the colors to pop all the more. Readers learn that Celia's lighthouse-keeper father moved the family to Appledore Island and built a hotel where "artists and writers [came] to stay"; after she married and moved to the mainland, that network f­acilitated her career. Hand-lettered excerpts of Thaxter's writings--both poetry and prose--frequently appear in the margins, artfully commenting on the narrative. The telling is elliptical; readers who wonder at the abrupt disappearance of Thaxter's husband must comb through the two-page timeline, printed in a tiny font, to learn of their estrangement. But Thaxter's devotion to her titular garden shines bright. Also appended are a biographical note and a bibliography.

Reviewer: Vicky Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2022