Freeman Virtual Library - Millie Fleur's Poison Garden

🌿Millie Fleur's Poison Garden🪴

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A delightfully peculiar story about finding joy in being wonderfully weird…

Garden Glen is a very bland place. Every house and every garden looks exactly like the other. That is, until Millie Fleur La Fae comes in town.

Up on a scruffy hill, beside a ramshackle house, Millie Fleur plants her marvelously strange garden. She finds it enchanting, but the townspeople of Garden Glen call it poison!

Millie decides to look for the kindred spirits who appreciate everything the garden has to offer.

A reminder to embrace everything that makes us wonderfully weird…

Book Trailer

Facts About Wonderfully Weird Millie Fleur!

She has a pet toad named Wart T. Wigglebottom who is a feisty and devoted companion.
She loves growing interesting plants, but has plenty of other hobbies, too. When she's not in the garden you can often find her being creative in other ways, like designing invitations to her poison garden or making paper chains of her plants.
She is curious about her world and loves making new friends.
Her favorite plant is her Grumpy Gilliflower. He might not be the most cheerful plant, but all varieties are welcome in her garden. He has the exact oppositve attitude about the world and teaches her a different perspective.
She loves gardening because it reminds her that we are all connected -- to each other and to the earth.

Read Aloud by the Author

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Meet the Creator

Christy Mandin is the author and illustrator of multiple picture books. She grew up in rural Georgia and credits her country life of solitude as an only child for much of her love of books and nature. You'll find this love of nature along with nostalgia, magic, and whimsy woven into the fabric of her art. Christy's grown many interesting plants in her garden over the years but, so far, none with teeth or tentacles. She currently lives in Georgia with her husband, four children, and a menagerie of animals and insects.

A Note from the Author:

Like many of my stories, Millie Fleur’s Poison Garden started with something I read about that made my brain light up – a real life poison garden in England! You see, I myself am wonderfully weird and a poison garden would’ve been just the kind of place I would’ve wanted to visit as a child. From a very early age I was multi-passionate, interested in all manner of things. But my unquenchable curiosity and varied interests often made me feel like I didn’t quite fit into any one box. And being curious and questioning sometimes put me at odds with the grown-ups in my life. I wasn’t satisfied with “because it’s always been that way” or “because I said so.” And I especially wasn’t interested in the words “you can’t.” In that way, Millie Fleur and I are alike.

Book Intro by the Author

Conversation with the Author & Editor

Inspiration for the Book

Alnwick Garden in Northumberland, England

Kept behind black iron gates is a place where visitors are explicitly told not to stop and smell the flowers: the Poison Garden, home to 100 dangerous and toxic plants.

Glimpse into the Book

Discussion Questions

Why did Millie's neighbors react so strongly to her garden?
How did Millie respond when people didn't like her garden?
Do you think it was scary for Millie to invite her class and teachers to her garden when the whole town seemed against her? Why or why not?
Which of Millie's "weird" plants was your favorite? Which one was the spookiest?
Have you ever been afraid of something just because it was different? What happened? Did you end up liking it in the end?
What is something that makes you different from others? How does this unique trait make you special?

Book Activities

Letter Writing

Imagine you are Millie. Write a letter to the townspeople explaining why your garden is important and why they should give it a chance.

Be Yourself!

Millie Fleur is proud of being different. Write about a time you felt different or "weird" and how you learned to embrace it.

Create Your Own Plant

After reading about the unique plants in Millie Fleur's garden, create your very own "weird" plant.

Draw a detailed and colorful picture of your plant.
Give your plant a "weird" name that relates to what it looks like or any unique qualities it might have.