A Flower Is a Friend by Frieda Wishinski, illustrated by Karen Patkau (Pajama Press, May 2023), highlights the ways garden creatures and garden flowers exist together. A digitally rendered flower-and-creature image on each two-page spread nicely pairs with a simple action phrase from the flower’s voice stating what they do, such as “wake to the sunlight” and “kiss a butterfly” and “drink the rain.”

Underneath ample white space on each text page, a second sentence appears. The secondary text is a question, clarifying the concept mentioned and the illustrations. One example is on the bee page (“Dust a bumblebee”); the question is “While visiting a flower like a black-eyed Susan, where does a bee collect pollen?” So each page provides the context for the creature and the specific flower pictured, as well as giving an educational question to prompt thinking as the student read and rereads the book.

The illustrations are macro images of flowers, and the whole book has a friendly, approachable feel. The nice balance of white space, text, and illustrations nicely brings the young reader into an educational picture book that reads, on the top level, as a friendly story of flowers and creatures. End matter pages give more details on the dynamic between flowers and the specific creatures, followed by a list of the flowers illustrated.

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book.