Margo's Musings: Will Sweetie Get Her Wish?

We are still getting curbside pickup from our local library. We make a few requests and then ask our librarian to select 5 surprise reads for us. All the books are awesome- but the unexpected books make us doubly happy.   

We were so entertained by Dandy written by Amy Dyckman and illustrated by Charles Santoso. We've read a few of Amy’s books before, so we figured we were in for some fun. Looking at the cover Margo guessed that the book was going to be about her favorite flower, the dandelion. She loves them because she loves yellow and bumble bees, and she knows they are so bright they can cheer you up just looking at them.  

In the story, Daddy is looking out his window at his meticulously groomed lawn when he is horrified to spot a dandelion. A weed! In his gorgeous yard! So he rushes out to get rid of the eyesore ruining his lawn. Just as he gets out to the dandelion, he sees his daughter, Sweetie, and she's introducing him to Charlotte, her new best friend. Charlotte is the dandelion. Daddy is on a mission to get rid of the offending weed, but he doesn’t want to do it in a way that will upset Sweetie. He devises plans to get rid of it, so she won’t know it was him. All his friends from the neighborhood can’t get over the horror of having a dandelion right in the middle of a perfect yard, and so they watch Daddy with lots of anticipation. What is Charlotte’s fate? You will need to read this sweet picture book to discover what happens when you want to spread some beauty.

Dandy is such a cute book, and I love the messages. Sweetie’s love for her dandelion is so adorable and Daddy’s obsession with his lawn is something a lot of people can understand. Seeing all the ways that Daddy tries to get rid of Charlotte had us cracking up. We were hoping he would change his mind and let Charlotte live, and I won’t give anything away- I don’t want to ruin the twist and turns of the story.  But I will say- there were some fun surprises towards the end of the book. The story makes you think about what you would and wouldn’t do for those you love.  It also makes you see that what one person sees as a terrible weed- another sees as a beautiful flower. The illustrations are fantastic. The characters’ feelings are expressed perfectly and the style really goes well with the messages embedded in the words.  Overall, the story makes you think about dandelions and how they came to have such a bad rap. People go to such pains to get them out of their lawns, and they have many important functions. Dandelions have health benefits to people, but they also make your yard healthier for other plants. So much good! This was a big hit for us, so I expect Margo will be finding her own Charlotte when we go outside. Of course, we will be putting in an order for more books written by Dyckman when we go to the library next week.

Has anyone else read  Dandy? Or have you read another book written by Amy Dyckman or illustrated by Charles Santoso? We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Happy Reading!
~F