Fern Verdant and the Silver Rose by Diana Leszczynski

From the Publisher

FERN WISHES SHE had normal parents and a normal name. Instead, she has eccentric botanist parents who named her Fern, after her father’s favorite plant. Lily, Fern’s mother, assures her one day she’ll understand their love of plants, but Fern can’t believe it. She hates plants and could do with less of them in her life.

Then Lily disappears suddenly while attending to a mysterious and rare Silver Rose. Fern and her dad are heartbroken, but have no idea what could have happened, until one day, Fern learns she has a one-of-a-kind talent: she can communicate with plants, and so could her mother! Using her newfound skill, she learns that her mother is in terrible danger, and she is the only one who can save her. With a little help from her friends, the plants . . .

From the Hardcover edition.

Children's Literature

Fern Verdant is pretty sure her parents love plants more than they love her. Why else would Lily and Olivier, both world-renowned botanists, move her away from her best friend to the tiny, dank town of Nedlaw, Oregon? Of course, Fern knows why they moved. It was so her father could study the fern species he had just discovered, now designated—humorlessly, in Fern's opinion—the Verdant Fern. Fern's dislike for all things flora intensifies when her mother, an endangered-plant scientist, disappears while on a mission to save a one-of-a-kind metallic silver rose. Long after everyone else presumes Lily is dead, Fern's dreams convince her that her mother is still alive. On her thirteenth birthday, she receives confirmation… from a trumpet flower. Lily Verdant, it turns out, had a secret, one which her daughter now shares: the Verdant women can talk to plants. Suddenly, Fern is thrust into a new world of discovery and danger, depending on the very plants she despised to rescue the mother she loves. Under Leszczynski's guidance, Fern inhabits a Roald Dahl-ian world in which parents are loveably clueless, acronyms are hilariously revealing—enter NITPIC, the Nedlaw Institute for the Treatment and Prevention of Insanity in Children—and secret potions can turn villains into pigs without making the reader feel as though fantasy has unfurled too far. Ideal for either end-of-day reading aloud or as a curriculum addition with science and geography applications, Fern's adventures will find a welcome place on any young reader's bookshelf. Reviewer: Cara Chancellor

School Library Journal

Gr 4-8

Fern Verdant, daughter of two botanists, is unhappy when her family moves to remote Oregon so that her father can study a recently discovered fern. Her life gets even worse when her mother, Lily, disappears after going to the aid of a sick plant, the rare Silver Rose. Lily is kidnapped by the henchmen of evil, anti-environment Henry Saagwalla, who wants to unravel the mystery of how she knows which plants are in need of her help. Lily's secret is revealed to Fern on the morning of her 13th birthday, when she learns that she has inherited her family's gift for communicating telepathically with plants and will follow her mother as their next protector. Fern uses her new abilities to pursue Lily's trail, encountering a boat of independent orphans and a variety of strong-willed plants as she travels to Sri Lanka. While the ultimate reunion of the Verdant family won't surprise readers, there are enough plot twists to catch and hold their attention. Though the depictions of the adults are a bit exaggerated, Fern's search for her mother and the decisions she is forced to make add depth to her character, and her growth in her communication with plants is realistic and intriguing.-Beth L. Meister, Milwaukee Jewish Day School, WI

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