Poppy and Sam and the Leaf Thief

Little ones will love solving this mystery of who is eating Basil's leaves. The illustrations are really cute! Poppy looks like a little girl who lives in a pumpkin with her panda, Sam. I don't if it is, but it should be a series! Cute illustrations!

Sweet story of an insect who steals basil leaves. The lesson is to ask first and that the answers may surprise you! It's a nice way to teach kids that taking things without permission isn't very nice.

This story is perfect for that special little detective in your life. It can also help introduce kids to gardening and insects. Great for classrooms or cracking the case at home!

A simple story for early readers that introduces mysteries and reinforces the idea that taking without asking is poor manners. I love the delightful and whimsical illustrations and characters, and I imagine that my 7 year old self would have gone nuts with this book. Looking forward to sharing it with children at the library.

An absolutely adorable and interesting take on a childhood mystery. The illustrations and a vivid, positive portrayals got me the most.

Interesting story of helping one another. Illustrations are simple, story line easy to follow. I think children will enjoy this very quick graphic novella read.

Beautifully illustrated, wonderfully told story of two garden heroes solving the mystery of who is eating Basil's leaves. Great story for early readers!

I love that they are making graphic novels for younger and younger children. This book could easily be read at storytime, or any other time. Poppy is a little girl who live in a pumpkin. Her and her friend Sam are on a mission to figure out who is snacking on the basil leaves. The story is fun and the illustrations are masterful.

This is an adorably illustrated book with a great cast of characters both plants and insects. I think children would really get a kick out of this book that leaves me reminscient of my childhood favorite, The Smurfs. Someone has been eating Basil’s leaves and Poppy is going to figure out who!

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

'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.

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.

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!

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.

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.