Anna Shuttlewood

The Prettiest Flower is a beautifully illustrated story about a hedgehog who loves her garden. She works hard to grow various plants and is upset when she wakes up several mornings to see her garden destroyed. She runs around blaming various friends for its destruction, but she is not correct. By setting a trap Hedgehog is able to determine who the culprit is, but what to do about it?

There are so many topics this book could be used for. Learning about plants (the names of the plants are in the illustrations) as well as gardening would be a good science theme. Of course, life cycles can be discussed when caterpillar disappears and comes back as a butterfly. Then we have the mystery aspect. Coming up with a hypothesis and determining how to find out if it is correct, making predictions, and drawing conclusions will develop critical thinking skills. Of course there is also the character development topics of hard work, compromise, jumping to conclusions, trust and friendship as well as dealing with anger. As you can tell, as a retired teacher, I love this book and will be recommending it to my friends who teach kindergarten and primary grades, as well as to families with young children. The publisher, QEB Publishing, generously provided me with a copy of this book upon request. The rating, ideas and opinions shared are my own.… (plus d'informations)