I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not generally a graphic novel person, so I'm not sure why I requested this. I have to admit, it was super cute.

This is a sweet book and a great early introduction to graphic novels.
A little mystery, nature and whimsy, this is a fun book for kids.

(If you have an reservations about graphic novels please listen/read this: https://readaloudrevival.com/137/)

Thank you to #NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an advance e-copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Poppy and Sam are trying to figure out who could possibly be eating a of their beautiful leaves in their garden. When they finally figure out who it is, they decide to come up with a plan to help everyone. Cute book the young kids will enjoy.

Poppy and Sam solve the mystery of who's eating Basil's leaves. This book talks about what it means to live in community and explores friendship. I appreciate that Poppy and Sam don't solve the problem immediately and that grace and courtesy are extended to the culprit! There are a lot of unique words used in the text making this a great read for not only independent readers, but also a great read aloud for preschoolers. The clean illustrations and clear panels are also a plus for an introduction to graphic novels and comics.

Poppy & Sam and the Leaf Thief is a great early graphic novel. Poppy is a small girl who lives in a pumpkin, and Sam the panda is her best friend. One morning, the two discover that someone has taken a bite of Basil's leaves. Who was it? They become detectives in order to find and expose the thief. The art is as vibrant and fun as the story, which is best for younger readers.

Darling early reader graphic novel with bright, engaging illustrations and a gentle mystery. A good pick for emerging independent readers!

This was a pretty adorable little graphic novel/short for children. The art was so inviting and the characters were also so well done. Especially living in a pumpkin! House goals.

Though it is really short so I would recommend it to very, very young kids.

This sweet little book follows the progress of Poppy and Sam—that is, a girl and her panda—as they hunt for the nefarious leaf thief who is destroying their friend the basil plant's beautiful leaves. Put simply, this is a book with a lot to offer for the easy reader crowd (those kids who are at the transition point between being read *to* and reading independently): the illustrations are sweet and whimsical, the step-by-step process of interviewing their friends offers useful repetition on key phrases, and their attempts to catch the thief follow the classic "third time's a charm!" format as the stories of Goldilocks, Rumpelstiltskin, and of course, the Three Little Pigs. (This pattern is believed by psychologists to boost memory retention as well as to boost the persuasive power of an argument.)

The only slightly sour note is that all of Poppy's friends seem oh-so-happy to accuse each other of the crime without evidence, based on strange biases. (Bumblebee, for example, thinks the ants are suspicious for working too much.) There's an object lesson in there somewhere about not leaping to conclusions about people based on appearances that isn't quite teased out. Parents and educators and caregivers may want to point that out as they read. Otherwise, this is a great blend of winsome illustrations and an interesting story, and about using our words to ask for the things we want rather than taking them in secret. It doesn't hurt that Poppy is a character of color, and that acknowledging diversity is part of the larger tapestry of this book. Here. For. It!

With a simple premise and lovely artwork, this book makes a perfect selection to give to a younger reader who is looking to try graphic novels. The characters are very cute (and I like that they distinguished the honeybee from the bumblebee, since they actually are different critters!). The solution for tracking down the leaf nibbler is simple, effective, and amusing; and best of all, everything wraps up with a sweet and cozy moral that isn't shoved down kids' throats. All in all, it was a very nice book.

Mysteries for picture book readers are tricky. They can't be overly complicated or too high stakes. This sis a fairly innocent story and well presented in visual form. I wonder if the ultimate message will be a bit confusing for some young readers.

'Poppy and Same and the Leaf Thief' with story and art by Cathon is a fun graphic novel for young readers.

Poppy and her panda bear friend, Sam live in a garden and are the same size as the bugs in the garden. Their friend Basil, the basil plant, has had someone munching on its leaves. Poppy and Sam are on the case! They start interviewing the various bugs in the garden like the bees, ladybugs, and other creatures. They try to catch the leaf thief in the act, and even set traps. What they discover leads to two important lessons: 1) It's better to ask than to take, and 2) Patience leads to yummy things like ripe strawberries.

I loved the illustrations in this book, and the two friends are fun characters. We never learn why they are so small, but in the end, it doesn't matter. This garden seems like a fun and positive place to live.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Owlkids Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

I really enjoyed the journey Poppy and Sam and the Leaf Thief took me on. It was a fun whodunit story where the list of suspects was long and it took some real detective work to find the culprit. The illustrations really popped off the page, and all of the characters were likable. I wasn’t always sure what was going to happen next, but that just made this story more fun to read. The ending was unexpected but had a good message for readers of all ages.

Cute mystery story set in a garden. Who is chewing on basil's leaves? Poppy and Sam investigate. They interrogate their insect friends hoping to find the culprit. friends. Inserting cartoon balloons filled with hand drawn letters into the illustrations is a much more direct and personal way to depict dialog than the traditional format where text sits near the bottom of the page beneath the picture.

Poppy and her panda bear friend Sam hear crying in their garden. Someone has taken a bite of one of Basil’s leaves! Poppy and Sam are on the case. They ask different insects where they were that night, they hideout to watch the next night, a honeybee helps make a sticky honey barrier around Basil so the thief is caught, but nothing works. Finally, Poppy comes up with an ingenious solution. Basil helps teach the thief that everything tastes better when offered freely rather than being taken.

Poppy and Sam and the Leaf Thief is composed in a comic-book style that kids will really like. Its illustrations are great and the garden makes for an interesting setting filled with talking plants and insects.

Fiin Thinks
Do you like this book?
Yeah! I like the panda! And I like all the bugs.

What's your favorite part of the book?
When someone went CHOMP out of the leaves! Leaves aren't yummy. And then they were just talking to all of the bugs! I want to talk to bugs too!

What do you think of the cover?
I like the ant and the ladybug!

Do you want me to read it again?
Yeah!


momma thinks

This is a really cute book about a little girl and a... panda? Who helps a basil plant, who has just had her leaves taken a bite of! The books goes through them asking a bunch of different bugs if they saw who it was.

This book has absolutely adorable illustrations and was really fun to read.

It was a little difficult on the kindle because it's made to look like a graphic novel, but the words are not in the bubbles. And the words get kind of jumbled up a bit.

But it's still a really cute book, that has adorable illustrations, and I bet it's really fun to read the actual physical copy.

Poppy and Sam and the Leaf Thief is a cute book with a very slight mystery. Somebody has been munching on Basil's leaves! Poppy and Sam come up with several different methods of trying to capture the thief, and the story ends with a sweet conclusion. This is a great early reader graphic novel. Kids will appreciate the cute illustrations and the fun story.

The most important thing I can say about this book is that it features a drawing of an earwig that is downright ADORABLE. Earwigs are not adorable, and yet this book manages to present one that I sort of want to hug. It's an impressive feat. Cute book, too.

Your little one's first mystery! As an avid mystery reader myself, I loved that there was a mystery element to this book so that I could share the fun of trying to solve the puzzle with my littles! The mystery takes place in a larger than life garden, which was beautifully illustrated and featured lots of veggies and plants. The book ended with the mystery being solved, an appropriate solution, and a lesson! The talking bubbles were fun and kids are always a fan of those. 5 stars!

I don't read a lot of children's book mostly because I'm an adult without any children so I don't really have a need for it. I was browsing Netgalley's catalog for comics and thought this one looked really cute so I requested it. It was definitely a really quick book to read through, which makes sense since it is geared towards children, but I found it so cute!

The book is about Poppy a little girl, no quite literally little because she lives in a pumpkin house, that lives amongst nature. The book starts with her and her panda friend Sam picking strawberries, but end up getting wrap-up in a mystery! Some one keeps on eating Basil's leaves and they set out to find out who it is. They set some traps and try to find the culprit red-handed. They have some failures along the way, but the way they end up finding the guilty party was so entertaining.

I like that this book shows some failure, because I think it shows to kids that sometimes the first solution is not the best one. Sometimes you have a fail and try again to get things right. I think it also showcases how to problem solve effectively.

What I also like about this book is that it doesn't try to "punish" the guilty party. It's a lot of admitting that you have done wrong, and for the other party to accept and forgive when someone has done you wrong. Also about remembering to ask for permission first. I really like that these messages were included in a children's book, because I think they are really important.

The artwork in this is very clean, but also since it's in the grass field there is a lot of green in it. It's pretty colorful in the panels with the strawberries or the different flowers. It has a very "soft" pastel style to it that I think makes it really engaging to a kid.

If you a parent looking for a good picture book to read to your children that has a good message behind it, I would recommend this one.

*I received a free egalley copy of this book in exchange for my honest review

Poppy is a little girl with a friend panda named Sam and today they are on the hunt for whomever is stealing Basil's leaves in the middle of the night. The book is a fun mystery for young readers about which insect might be the thief.

The book has a few good lessons too, including the need to ask before taking something that isn't yours and also can lend to a good discussion about how people see others.

The story was very cute and the images were good too, and while they addresses the thief issue there was not really anything said about how each insect they interviewed essentially called out their friends for being sketchy and out of sorts. I think there could have been a lot more done with that aspect and it would have been a great teaching tool.