I’m happy to share a new Perfect Picture Book that will arrive in bookstores next month. Enjoy! (note: I reviewed a digital copy on Edelweiss).
Title: Music Plants Hope
Written By: Tonnye Fletcher
Illustrated By: Natalia Bruno
Publisher/Date: Reycraft Books/May 2026
Suitable for Ages: 7-12
Themes/Topics: music, pandemic, plants, concert, nonfiction, hope
Opening:
Footsteps on the stage…
The string quartet enters in their black and white.
They haven’t played for an audience in months.
Butterflies may fill their bellies, but
their bows are rosined and they are ready to play.
Brief Synopsis: The true story of a string concert in Barcelona, Spain before an audience of houseplants.
Links to Resources:
· Watch and listen to the 2020 concert in Barcelona, Spain;
· Read The Enchanted Symphony, a fiction picture book inspired by that concert (link is to my review);
· Share some of your favorite music with family, friends, neighbors, your pets, and/or plants in your garden. What music did you share? Why? Did you choose the same music for everyone?
Why I Like this Book:
With lyrical language and a clear sense of music and musicality, Fletcher describes a concert that took place in the first months of the pandemic, when most of the world was shut down. In the Epilogue, readers learn that on 22 June 2020, the Uceli String Quartet played Puccini’s “Crisantimi” (“Chrysanthemums”), an elegy, in an auditorium. Because of the pandemic, no humans attended. Instead, the audience consisted of potted house plants that later were gifted to medical personnel working tirelessly to help victims of COVID-19.
I love how Fletcher notes that the plants donned “green finery,” as if they were actual persons dressing for a concert. As they listen, their “leaves lengthen,” “stems steady,” “roots rustle and rumble, digging deep.” The “plants pulse, though they have no hearts.” Clearly, though, these plants felt the music as did those who watched and listened to recordings of this concert.
Using a bold palette of rich colors, Bruno interestingly adds sprite-like children to the scenes, as if they were present in spirit, if not in person.
For a lovely reminder of the power of music and plants (and nature generally) to help us overcome grief and adversity, I highly recommend Music Plants Hope.
A Note about Craft:
Per the flap jacket biography, Fletcher is a music educator who also “tries” to grow herbs and other plants. Her knowledge of these disciplines shines through in her evocative language that spirits readers into the auditorium. Interestingly, both music and gardening are art forms in which the results are never fixed. Musical performances differ each time, and gardens change daily, seasonally, and over time. Pairing these arts, as their creator, Eugenio Ampudia, a Spanish artist who conceived of this concert, did, helps readers understand the link between these art forms. This Perfect Picture Book entry is being added to Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book list. Check out the other great picture books featured there!
Wander, Ponder, Write 