Parents' Guide to

Violet in Bloom: A Flower Power Book

By Monica Mehta, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 9+

Tween friends tackle healthy relationships and food choices.

Book Lauren Myracle Contemporary Fiction 2010
Violet in Bloom: A Flower Power Book Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Community Reviews

See all
age 13+

Based on 1 parent review

bestmommyigot
bestmommyigot Parent
November 5, 2019
age 13+

My daughter is 8, and an advanced reader.

She brought this and another book by the same author home from the school library. She is reading them for an AR test. I leafed through the pages and decided it was not a book my daughter needs to be reading. The obsession with crushes on boys and adult men is weird. Being worried/joking about eating a whale/ blubber and transfat or the constant boobie talk was all very odd. I am all for talking about these things with my kids, but this book does add any value to my child's life or in conversions we would be having about these subjects. I am also a bit concerned about how younger children may read this for AR tests and start to believe what is in this book is factual. It's fiction for sure - especially if you have judeo-christian values. Young kids will read this a seed is planted that it's OK to do these thing. In part because of their development age and also because they are tested on it. This is going back to the library.

This title has:

Too much sex
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

Violet, Katie-Rose, Camilla, and Yasaman aren't just BFFs, they're FFFs -- flower friends forever. Together they embark on a crusade to rid their school of evil Cheezy Nips -- unhealthy cheese snacks without any cheese in them. In the meantime, they deal with all things tween, including crushes, friendships in peril, mean girls, difficult family relationships, and bullying. All of this is set against a social media backdrop: back at home, the girls communicate through Luyyabunches.com, a private networking site that includes a blog and videos. This is the second book in the Flower Power Book series; the first is Luv Ya Bunches.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (8 ):

There's a lot packed into the book, and the author has written it in a decidedly contemporary tween voice, which can be overly sweet with its liberal use of exclamation points and italics. Readers may find the diversity too forced and simplified -- none of the major problems the girls face are about their ethnicity, race, or the sexual preference of their parents. But the messages are very positive, and much about their elementary-school life is realistic.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the four different friends on the book's cover. Do they seem like full-bodied characters -- and could they be friends in real life? In what way do the girls emulate stereotypes, and how do they defy them? Can you think of other books or movies led by a very diverse group of girlfriends, like this one?

  • One of the themes in the book is bullying -- a topic that has also been in the news very much as of late. This might be a good time to check in with your kids about what kind of bullying goes on in their schools. Does what happens in the book seem realistic? How do your own experiences compare?

Book Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

See all recommended book lists

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate