Kim de Haan
9781923543072
April 2026
AUD$15.99, NZD$16.99
To be honest, I said, I’m not a huge fan of graphics. I have reviewed some that were extraordinarily great but, in general, yeah nah – not for me, so I usually avoid them. ‘It’s just a little one for younger kids’. Well, it is and it’s absolutely adorable!
Daisy and Bug are besties, critters of some unidentifiable type and from the first frame, it is very easy to detect the ever-popular and always amusing ‘odd couple’ trope at play here [think Ernie & Bert, Frog & Toad, Felix & Oscar et al].
Daisy is always brimming over with ideas, all of them delivered with gusto and, arguably, very little practical planning or forethought. The grand plan to build a treehouse is rather hampered by the fact, as Bug points out, that they have no tree in which to build such a thing. NO problem! Daisy has seeds and a ‘quick grow’ product so a tree they will have. Daisy’s waiting for the tree to grow is a hilarious sequence in itself.
When both friends fall asleep in the yard waiting for the imminent arrival of the tree, they are both startled upon waking to find they are in the middle of a giant – strawberry plant! Oops! Daisy didn’t read the seed packet very well – or actually, at all. When Bug retreats to the house in disgust, Daisy determines to build the tree (strawberry plant) house alone…….but oh oh!! Easy to forget one is afraid of heights!
Honestly, this is a joyful little romp that younger readers will giggle and hoot over. The back matter is a thoughtful addition with a quick quiz to determine is the reader more like Bug or Daisy and a ‘how to draw’ the besties plus an insight into creator Kim de Haan.
In this instance, YES!, I do like graphics and give this one an excitable 5 🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓rating for readers from around 3 years upwards, especially appropriate for your newly independent readers.
Just So Stories 
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