I came to Cornelia Funke's stories as a grown-up, when my daughter would borrow, and re-borrow, and borrow again 'Dragon Rider' and I wondered what had so captured her attention! I enjoy her style of writing, and this new book didn't disappoint. It's the story of Caspia, a young pre-teen who has to spend the summer in Brooklyn, much to her dismay, but she soon makes a host of friends after discovering a mysterious bundle of letters between two sisters from long ago. They each contain a puzzle about a plant, and Caspia finds herself wandering across Brooklyn, trying to discover all of these plants, and putting down roots of her own along the way.
As someone who moved a lot as a child, I definitely identified with Caspia's feelings around living somewhere new. I would have devoured this book as a child, and even as a grown-up I raced through it quickly and found it very enjoyable. It's quite simply told, but the characters are interesting, and I liked all the puzzles around real plants, some of which I found easy to figure out and some less so. It perhaps lacked some of the depth that Inkheart has, but it is still a really lovely story.
With thanks to Net Galley for my copy.
Title: The Green Kingdom
Author: Cornelia Funke
ISBN: 978 0241698020
To be published: 6 March 2025
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