Bloom by Doreen Cronin and illustrations by David Small (Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2016), is a fabulous picture book for kids age 4 – 8.

This is the story of a mud fairy named Bloom.  She has a rather important job of keeping the castle in tip-top shape, however, her muddy tracks leave the King and Queen unhappy and she is released from her duties of keeping up the castle.

As you can imagine, this doesn’t go well for the King and Queen who live in a glass castle and now have to deal with it falling apart before their very eyes.  They have no idea what to do, so they go in search of Bloom to bring her and her magical skill set back to the castle.  However, they are not willing to look past the beetles in her hair, the mud caked onto her shoes to see her real magical skills.  When they King and Queen feel they have no other choice to save their castle they send a perfectly ordinary young girl, Genevieve who works at the castle, her job is to polish a crystal sugar spoon (which my petites thought to be pretty silly).  When Genevieve meets Bloom, she learns to true secret to her magic.

This is a perfect story for any petite who thoroughly enjoys playing in the mud and getting a little dirty all while wearing a princess dress and tiara.  I love that this story showcases an “ordinary” girl, who does extraordinary things.

Doreen Cronin is an author whose books I am guessing you have sitting on your shelves, she is the genius behind Click, Clack, Moo stories.  Perhaps if your petites have graduated from the Click Clack Moo books, Bloom might be just what you’re looking for.

Happy Reading!