Avocado Magic is a beautiful coming-of-age picture book with family, love and growing up at its core. The illustrations are captivating and the story is sweet and simple, with a father’s love for his little girl being the most important thing.

I ADORED this. I plan to pre-order ASAP. It teaches such good lessons in patience and expectations. Also the art is magnificent!

Taltal Levi, NorthSouth Books and NetGalley for my gifted digital copy in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.

Pub date March 5th 2024

I was looking for some new picture books to read with my son. He's 3, so on the young side for this book, but he still really enjoyed it!

Avocado Magic follows Ellie, who is disappointed to find that upon waking up the day after her birthday, she still hadn't grown any taller. Her father then uses an avocado seed to teach her about patience, and that wonderful things can grow from a small seed.

We loved the illustrations, my son especially liked the full page spread at the beginning where Ellie is talking to her friends and there is an explosion of different things coming out of the avocado seed. He really enjoyed pointing out everything he could see.

I liked the repetition of the phrase "the magic always moves and always flows; it's hard to see, and rather slow. We need to wait and let it grow." This is something that I could see him being able to recite back if I were to read this to him many times, something that is helpful for children learning to read.

We also LOVED the instruction pages at the back on how to sprout your own avocado! We've been very into gardening lately and are now considering trying to grow our own avocado tree.

Recommendations on how to use this book in a classroom setting:
(Please note: I'm an educator in NSW Australia, should be able to be adjusted according to the syllabus for your location)

1. Syllabus outcome: STe-3LW-ST "explores the characteristics, needs and uses of living things" (Early Stage 1, Science, Living World)
Content: Characteristics and basic needs of living things
Inquiry question: What do we notice about living things?

2. Syllabus outcome: PDe-1 "identifies who they are and how people grow and change" (Early Stage 1, PDHPE, Health, Wellbeing and Relationships)
Content: How do we grow?

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Saying that I live for books like this one won't be wrong.
It's such a fun perspective on growing and waiting for that growth. Certain things in l8fe cannot be rushed and Teh Avocado Magic, with it's beautiful and colourful illustrations, describes it well.

Would 100% recommend this to young parents and librarians 🤍

What a sweet story about growth and patience. I have a younger child who will love this book. He is always ready to grow up so fast. To be big like his brother. This story celebrates the slow work of growth and the magic inside. Perhaps we'll plant our own avocado seed.

A delightful story about a girl growing up with a avocado tree in her yard. It's illustrations are very soft, colorful & pretty.....& in.....almost a 'welcoming' nature. It'd be a real nice book to read to a little kid. And it tells how to start an avocado seed!
I received an e-ARC of this book for review purposes from publisher NorthSouth Books via NetGalley. This is my own independent, fair/honest review.

This is a sweet story with beautiful illustrations. Ellie is impatient about growing up until she learns the magic of the avocado. The flow is a little stilted in beginning but it gets better.

The warmth that this book radiates is incredible.
The drawings are beautiful and the color used along with the lines of the colored pencils makes me immerse myself in the story.
The plot is quite simple but beautiful and magical. The next time I buy an avocado I'll plant it!

Oh my. As a young mom with an avocado seed waiting for its magic to unfurl, this book touched my heart.

My daughter loves avocados and we eat them together all the time but this book is more than just avocados. It brought a tear to my eye!

Thank you for the beautiful journey through Ellie’s life! Gorgeous illustrations!

Five stars. This book made me cry. Showed about all the changes of growing up that take time and how we all have magic inside. And a cute little instructions on how to make your own avocado magic that of course we are going to do As well.

I loved this book. It was sweet, it was easy to read, and it really grabbed at my heart strings. I loved the illustrations, and I absolutely loved the way it reached both children and adults.

I will read this to my son again and again. And I will endeavor to consume avocados more intentionally.

**4.5 Stars**

“Avocado Magic” is a lovely picture book for maybe your 4-6 year-old age group. It’s about Ellie, a little girl who wants to physically grow really fast.

The book opens with little Ellie celebrating her birthday with her family under the avocado tree in her backyard. The next day, she’s disappointed that even though she had a birthday, she hasn’t grown. Her dad tells her that she’s like the magic of an avocado seed. That with time and patience, both will grow. And he gives her an avocado seed to watch grow into a tree.

Ellie has to learn patience, because as her dad said, the process is slow. And then we watch Ellie and the avocado seed grow together — Ellie into a grown woman and the avocado seed into a tree. (I did get a little teary-eyed.)

According to Levi’s Instagram account, the inspiration for this book came from her own childhood in Galilee. There is a bit of Jewish representation as well. Ellie lights a menorah in one vignette.

I thought this was really sweet and lovely. Levi did the illustrations as well, and they are just charming. I think this would be great for your littles who are anxious to get big.

And there are instructions in the back of the book on how to grow your own avocado tree!

It’s not everyday that a book makes me cry. This is one of them. I was initially drawn to the illustrations, which are beautiful, and the fact that it’s about avocados, my favorite. But the story is what really hooked me. It’s about a little girl named Ellie, who is impatient to grow. Through growing her own avocado plant she learns patience. I definitely just pre-ordered it as I need it to be a part of my library. Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Very short and sweet book about patience - the avocado tree analogy was a nice twist. This weighs be a great addition to an elementary classroom

What a wonderful story! The themes tackled by this book are incredible, and done in such a relatable way for children. Both Mom and kids loved this one, and have already read it a few times. I'm sure we will also be trying to grow our own avocado tree soon!

If one can be patient, the magic in themselves shall blossom sooner or later...
Love and hugs and hearts and avocados spill out of the book! There is even a recipe how one can grow their own avocado tree.
Great story!

Avocado Magic is a cute story. Avocado magic is a story about a magical seed that grows and grows to become an Avocado tree. A story that is told to their children.

"The details in words and pictures made me feel like I could jump into the story!" Leona Claire

When asked about the illustrations, Leona Claire gave a solid 10 out of 10! "She (Taltal Levi) used the body's simplest form to make Ellie look real. With just one line in her eyebrows Ellie looked mad or happy and her crossed arms showed her disappointment."
When Ellie was frustrated, her dad felt Ellie and the avocado seed needed cheering up. She used puppets, played the saxophone, danced, and tried magic!
Other likes: The rhyme her dad repeated in the story, the magic stirring, and the avocado seed pictures.

3.75/5 stars!

“Dad smiled. "Shall I tell you a secret? You, Ellie, are like an avocado seed: small but full of magic."”

Ohhh this was such a cute children’s book!
In this book, a father explains to his daughter that her growth is very slow, but it is there. So to help her understand, they sprout together an avocado seed to show her how slow growth can be. It’s a book that teaches children to be patient and show them how we grow slowly!
I personally loved this story and the example her father used to make her understand. It’s a beautiful example that I might use with my kids in the future. I also loved how the author included instructions to sprout your own avocado. It looks like a good activity to do with your children and you can look at the sprout’s growth together.
The only thing I would change about this story is related to the part where Ellie grew up and went away, and eventually had her own children. I believe this could be confusing to some children, so I personally would focus on the growth from a small child to a bigger kid, and then they would pass the message to a younger sibling or cousin. I just think the “grown up” part could be confusing, so keeping a child perspective from this book would be better in my humble opinion.
The illustrations are stunning and the color scheme focuses on green tones. If I have children one day and they learn English, I’m going to show them this book!
Definitely recommend this one for you and your kids - as well as the fun book activity that you can do together.

***A big thank you to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review***

A cute book about the magic of growing up through the metaphor of an avocado tree! Ellie is excited its her birthday, but sad when she wakes up the next morning and hasn't grown at all. However, her dad tells her that growing up is like the magic. of growing an avocado seed. It's a cute story with cute illustrations!