Perfect Petunias
Loppy the Little Anxious Creature is very worried about not doing his homework well enough. He always focuses on what he’s done wrong rather than right, and often becomes very frustrated with himself. In this book of encouragement for those little people who find it hard to make mistakes, Loppy learns that ‘perfect’ means trying your best, and not worrying about getting things wrong.
To show Loppy that the best things happen when we don’t try too hard to control everything, Curly Calmster takes him out to the garden, where gorgeous petunias are growing all over the place. The vibrant illustrations highlight the wild beauty of the flowers, and Loppy sees that by trying to control whether he makes mistakes or not, it’s as if he’s trying to grow ‘perfect’ petunias, which sounds pretty boring compared to this sprawling garden! Sometimes, he just needs to accept that things go their own way, and that ‘perfect’ doesn’t mean quite what he thought.
Perfect Petunias is the third book in the ‘Lessons of a LAC’ series, which aims to give children ways to think about and manage common emotional difficulties. The passion of the author and illustrator make the series a valuable resource for every child to help guide their emotional development. This instalment is an entertaining and essential resource in shaping perfectionistic tendencies towards being more self-accepting and flexible.
Lynn Jenkins is a clinical psychologist, author and mother of three. Lynn is passionate about early intervention in the social and emotional development of children. She has written three picture books on the topics of anxiety and worry (Lessons of a LAC, Brave and Perfect Petunias), a picture book on mindfulness for children called Ollie’s Treasure, as well as two non-fiction titles for adults, Best Start and School Start.
Kirrili Lonergan is a children’s book illustrator, art therapist and mother of four. She has illustrated several picture books (Lessons of a LAC, Brave, Perfect Petunias, Ollie’s Treasure and Dandelions) as well as creating designs for clothes, prints and pottery. She is passionate about illustrating picture books that have a ‘healing’ message and has a great understanding of the need for such books as a result of her previous work as a paediatric nurse.