by Cathon
2019 / 42 pages

A little girl Poppy and her talking panda friend Sam are either very tiny, or they live in a land of giant people-sized mushrooms and strawberries. Whatever the answer, this is a charming book, with the twosome setting out to find their friend mole’s lost glasses. Along the way they discover all sorts of other lost treasures, start a “lost and found” and provide a happy ending for mole and the many others who now have what they were missing. It is a kind, whimsical, story.

There have been three sequels so far. In Poppy & Sam and the search for sleep (2020, 42 pages) little Poppy and her panda friend settle down to hibernate for the winter. But she can’t fall asleep, and so goes off to gather advice from the animals all around on how they get to sleep. It’d make for a fun bedtime read.

Poppy & Sam and the hunt for jam (2023. 44 pages) sees Sam wake up early from hibernation with an urge for some rosehip jam. But the ingredients are still hiding under the snow, so this is going to be more difficult than he first thought. Still, with a little help from some friends, including a full size bear – why is the bear the right size, and panda Sam the size of a mouse? I don’t get it, but it’s fun – a yummy result is had. Only caution: Sam use one mildly problematic word, wondering  “where did that darn pot get to.”

Another sequel, Poppy & Sam and the leaf thief is a bit too peculiar for me – the twosome are trying to track down which animal is eating leaves from their friend, Basil, a basil plant. It didn’t strike my wife as quite as odd, since Basil was actually happy to give away his leaves to any who asked, rather than just took. But I am still stuck thinking friends really shouldn’t eat friends.