When I first saw that Pandora by Victoria Turnbull was coming out, on April 4th,  I had no idea what it was about, I simply loved the cover art and knew it was immediately being added to our library hold list.  When it arrived, it was clear as we opened the cover we were the first people to check this book out and have the privilege of reading it.

Pandora is a little fox, who lives in a world of discarded and broken things all alone.  She has made herself a handsome home (which my petites thought was quite fun and now they call their rooms handsome) she uses her time repairing and restoring items that she can mend and fix.  However, she is lonely and no one ever comes to visit her.

One day something falls from the sky, it is a tiny blue bird with a broken wing.  Pandora doesn’t know how to fix its wing, but does her best to take care of it and over time the bird regains its strength and begins to fly small distances.  Always returning with small gifts from its journeys, until one day, the bird doesn’t come back.  Pandora is alone, again.

As the days pass, slowly something lovely and beautiful starts to grow until one morning Pandora wakes to the sound of her bird friend and the stunning changes that have happened to her once broken and discarded world.

When we finished reading this story, my seven-year old picked up the book and held it to her chest and sighed and said oh mommy, I love this story so much.  How much is it?  Can we buy this book so I can always read it?  This is a story that is so much more than a story, it is about loving what you have, appreciating what you have, finding the goodness in what others may discard, taking care of others, being aware of feelings and what it means to have joy.  This is an absolutely perfect story for petites.  We have read it every single day since we have checked it out from the library.   It is quite clear that this is a new Petite Stag Favorite.

This is Victoria Turnbull’s third book, she is an author from the UK who has incredible talent – her words are so carefully chosen and her illustrations evoke such incredible feeling.  We cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.  To see more of her other two books and Pandora check out her website.