The dare-to-be-different picture book blends beautifully with the kids-to-the-rescue story in Millie Fleur's Poison Garden by Christy Mandin (Lucky; The Storytellers Rule), a Kids' Indie Next List pick.
"Garden Glen was a place of sameness," begins the book's omniscient narrator. Identical houses line the streets--with one exception: a quasi-haunted-looking house on a hill has "no one to love it" until Millie Fleur and her mom move in. Unfortunately, Garden Glen's Rosebud Club is not down with avid gardener Millie Fleur's unusual and wildly blooming buds. Millie Fleur's Poison Garden succeeds as a spirited swipe at lazy-brained conformity and leaves readers with much to think about: they may wonder why Millie Fleur and her mom moved to town and whether their paranormal interests--moving boxes are labeled "spell books" and "potions"--indicate that they're witches. Working digitally with a palette that features both earthy and queasy greens, Mandin inserts exquisite visual winks, including Millie Fleur's Venus flytrap paper doll chain and her pet frog's Broadway-big facial expressions, which hilariously mimic the girl's own. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author