The One and Only Marigold
Published by Schwartz & Wade Books
One of Bank Street College of Education's Best Books of the Year (2010) ages 5-9 (Humor category)
Meet Marigold! From renowned author Florence Parry Heide come four connected stories about one clever, complicated—and hilarious—little girl.
Reviews
McElmurry outdoes herself with gorgeous landscapes, and with Marigold's goofy hair and stubborn stances infuses even more humor into the already laugh-out-loud stories.
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
In four vignettes, Marigold, a strong-willed young monkey, talks back to her mother, torments her closest friend and cheerfully gets away with everything as she asserts her individual style. The first story follows her on a shopping expedition to replace her old, patched purple coat: Marigold rejects frilly and silly offerings and goes for an exact but too small duplicate of the first coat, eccentrically accessorized; her fashion sense is rewarded when everyone admires her. In subsequent tales, Marigold concocts elaborate illustrated lists, one of which names the old coat as her best friend and rates her actual friend, a hippo named Maxine, a close second. As depicted in McElmurry's (Little Blue Truck) stylish spreads, a blend of up-to-the-minute humor and nostalgic, folklike patterning, Marigold has a long prehensile tail and spiky rust-colored hair that she sometimes wears in topknots. Heide (the Treehorn books) introduces a stubborn, potentially maddening character, but Marigold's sunny disposition and creativity make up for her mischief; she will ring true for friends and parents of inventive children. — Publishers Weekly
. . .At age 89, Heide has written more books for kids than I can count. And helping her out on this book is illustrator Jill McElmurry, who has once again done some amazing work. . . .Heide and McElmurry have come up with a fun, unique character for The One and Only Marigold and I know everyone at my house hopes there are more adventures for the spunky little Marigold!—blogcritics.org
Buy this book. See inside. This book is also avaialble in Korean.
© 2012 Jill McElmurry