Wildflowers

Wildflowers
By Liniers

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$12.99 Hardcover
$7.99 Paperback
$16.99 Special Gift Edition

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TOON LEVEL: 2
INTEREST LEVEL: Age 4+
READING LEVEL: Grades 1-2
LEXILE LEVEL: 460
F&P LEVEL: K

AUTHOR: Liniers
LANGUAGE: English
PAGES: 40
HARDCOVER EDITION
6" x 9"
ISBN: 978-1-943145-53-9
LARGER HARDCOVER GIFT EDITION
7.25" x 11"
ISBN: 978-1-943145-54-6
PAPERBACK EDITION
6" x 9"
ISBN: 978-1-6626-6513-4

HARDCOVERS RELEASE: April 6, 2021
PAPERBACK RELEASE: March 7, 2023

About the Book

A celebration of the magical bonds that unite children! When her two big sisters embark on an adventure to explore a mysterious island, the youngest one doesn't want to be left behind. What shines through from this funny story's gut-wrenchingly scary beginning ("There was a terrible plane crash!") to its sweet and satisfying ending is Liniers's admiration for the imaginative powers of childhood.

Simultaneous release in a larger Special Gift Edition—perfect for story time!

Book Buzz

"WHERE THE OTHER WILD THINGS ARE...An older sister to Sendak's work, maybe taking place on the next island over from Max's wild rumpus."
--The New York Times

School Library Journal Best Graphic Novels of 2021

★ "Argentine American cartoonist Liniers applies both conventions of magical realism and a keen understanding of how children’s minds work to this weird and wonderful story. Like children’s backyard play, sheer delight."
—Kirkus Reviews, STARRED review

★ "A charming celebration of nature, siblinghood, and imaginative play."
—The Horn Book Magazine, STARRED review

★ "A dazzling ode to the magic of childhood. A Must for all graphic novel collections."
—School Library Journal, STARRED review

"A wildly imaginative tale, spangled by magic realism and Argentine conflation of reality and fantasy."
—Variety

"A winsome comic, perfectly pitched to emerging readers.”
—Booklist

"Quirky and endearing, it’s a journey both internal and external.”
—Publishers Weekly

"Designed by Liniers and TOON Editorial Director Françoise Mouly, Wildflowers is a small gem of a children’s hardcover book—a sweet end to Liniers’s fatherly trilogy...Liniers knows these girls, and he knows how to balance cuteness against trouble. What he has done with TOON so far—well, it’s one of the lovelier runs in today’s children’s comics."
—Read the featured review “We Are Flowers, Wild Ones" by Charles Hatfield of SOLRAD, the online literary for comics

"A comfortable reminder of the power of imagination."
—School Library Journal, Good Comics for Kids

Book Trailer
Liniers talks WILDFLOWERS with librarian Betsy Bird

Watch the full interview

In a new cover for The New Yorker Liniers shows us the city "Springing Back."

In a Cover Story interview on The New Yorker website, Françoise Mouly asks Liniers about the creative process behind Wildflowers.

You and I have been working on your upcoming children’s book, "Wildflowers," which is the third such book inspired by your three daughters. What has that process been like for you?

Again with the trilogy! Yes, these books bloom (if I may) from watching them play and interact and be little kids. Every parent wishes their kids came with a Pause button. But they don’t have one, and you begin to realize that every age is fascinating. Still, I think I made these books to keep a piece of their childhoods with me. Later, I’ll get to show them how incredible—how small, goofy, and wild—they all were.

Early sketches by Liniers featured bursts of wildflowers.

About the Author

"As soon as I took this photo of my three young daughters looking at the jungle in the Yucatan, Mexico, I began to imagine this book," says Ricardo Liniers Siri, about the moment inspiration struck for Wildflowers. Liniers's U.S. debut The Big Wet Balloon, was selected as one of Parents Magazine's Top Ten, and his second book starring his girls, Good Night, Planet, was the winner of the Eisner Award for Best Comics for Beginning Readers. This third book completes the set of the author's ode to his three daughters. Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, the family is now happily inhabiting the mysterious jungles of Vermont.

Photo credit: Liniers

Teacher's Guide

Prepared by Richard Kutner, the head of the TOON Educational Team, our Teacher Guide outlines the ELA Common Core Standards to support standards-based instruction in the classroom using Wildflowers by Liniers.

The objectives for students include:

To celebrate and understand the nature of imagination.
To develop children's imagination.
To help children begin to understand the difference between what is real and what is imagined.