How to Talk to Your Succulent by Zoe Persico

While I usually focus on YA and adult books for high school students (age 14 and up), sometimes very edgy, I received this sweet graphic novel because I have a Substack called Be a Cactus. I so enjoyed it and wanted to share in case you are looking for something for an 8-12 year old. 

How to Talk to Your Succulent is about grief and healing. Eleven-year-old California girl Adara has lost her mother. There’s no indication of what caused Mom’s death (only referred to as ‘passing’ in the novel), but the family’s grief is clear. Under the guise of needing to help his mother, Adara’s father moves to ‘Grandma’s’ house in Michigan just before Thanksgiving. When the pair move, they bring along Adara’s mother’s many houseplants. Mom was always considered a houseplant ‘whisperer.’ 

As a way of giving her something of her own while also connecting to the memory of her mother, Dad takes Adara plant shopping. She chooses a succulent and names it Perle. Her mom had grown succulents in California; in Michigan’s snowy winter, it’s more of a challenge. In addition, Amara’s grandma has an adorable dog, Toby, who attacks plants and once was made sick by a poisonous variety. So all the plants in Grandma’s house are confined to a darkish room with the door shut. (Note to dog lovers: Toby is in no way seen as an antagonist in this book. In fact, he is often pictured being sweet, sleeping in Adara’s bed, and paying loyal attention to her.)

Adara meets a friend, but communication is rocky. With so many of her own troubles, she isn’t always a good listener. She dreams of her mother and wishes her dad would talk to her about all they have been through. Whenever she brings up the subject, he shuts down. 

Yet, there is magic afoot in Adara’s life and she realizes that someone—or many someones—listen to her. Like her mother, she can talk to plants and they respond in kind. Perle is her particular friend and a good listener. But in the shady room during a Michigan winter, Perle is visibly suffering. Adara doesn’t notice. 

Perle must communicate to Adara that she needs more care, but she’s afraid of hurting Adara’s feelings when she is going through so much difficulty and loss. In this, the succulent mirrors Adara herself, who needs to tell her dad how lost she feels without her mother, but who is afraid of making his pain worse.

Adara feels anxiety over making and keeping friends; and loneliness over missing her mother and being unable to talk to her father. Her emotional and mental state are indicated by thorny stems growing out from her body—the more she is stressed, the thicker the tangle becomes. When she is calm, they disappear.This is a smart way of indicating distress to a child reader. 

This is a delightful story with a happy ending. The characters love one another from the get-go. They just need to help each other in their grief and loneliness through better communication. Both plants and people learn this lesson and act on it. The solution to creating a proper environment for Perle is quite clever.

My son saw How to Talk to Your Succulent on my counter and flipped through it. He commented that while working in the public library, he reshelved tween graphic novels regularly, and the illustrations were a type that is wildly popular in the genre. In addition, those illustrations are beautiful, full of movement, color, and enchanting plant life.