The Blossoms and the Green Phantom

”Byars develops her story subtly, using shifting points of view to delineate her characters. Each chapter leads logically and simply into the next; yet by the end of the story readers understand several different viewpoints and have followed a subplot involving Pap, Mud, and an abandoned puppy. This is no small accomplishment for independent readers in fourth or fifth grade and is excellent preparation for more complex reading. The Blossoms are totally real and believable, yet quirky enough to be fun…This is a story about love in its many forms. Like Byars’ best, it is rock solid and full of chuckles, and it lingers in the mind.” —School Library Journal

“As always, Byars gives a kaleidoscope of points of view, entering with equal skill into the mind of an elderly man, a lovesick boy, a thwarted inventor, and a sulking dog. As always, humor and heartbreak are never far apart, and readers cry through their laughter and smile through their tears. In her body of work, Byars has produced some of the ‘the most beautiful, the most wonderful, the most spectacular’ middle-grade fiction the world of children’s literature has ever seen.” —Children’s Literature