The girl from Earth's End

Title:

Author:

Summary:

Twelve-year-old Henna loves living with her two papas and cultivating her beloved plants on the tiny island of Earth’s End—until Papa Niall grows seriously ill. Now Henna is determined to find a legendary, long-extinct plant with miraculous healing powers, even though the search means journeying all the way to St. Basil’s Conservatory, a botanical boarding school rumored to house seeds of every plant ever grown. At St. Basil’s, Henna is surrounded not only by incredible plants, but also, for the first time, other kids—including her new roommates: wisecracking, genderfluid P, who gleefully bends every rule they come up against, and wealthy, distant Lora, who is tired of servants doing everything for her, from folding her clothes to pushing her wheelchair. But Henna’s search for the fabled healing seed means she doesn’t have time for friends—or so she thinks. This tender tale, blossoming with moments of joy, is a story of hope, grief, and learning to flourish with a little help from those around you. -- Amazon.

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

367 pages : map ; 22 cm

Genre:

Bildungsromans.

Subject Term:

Sick parents -- Juvenile fiction.

Friendship -- Juvenile fiction.

Gardeners -- Juvenile fiction.

Medicinal plants -- Juvenile fiction.

Boarding schools -- Juvenile fiction.

Roommates -- Juvenile fiction.

Publisher:

Candlewick Press,

Publication Date:

2023

ISBN:

9781536224801

Publication Information:

Somerville, Massachusetts : Candlewick Press, 2023.

Call Number:

J DAIRMAN

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003686881	New Juvenile Fiction	DAIRMAN	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

Gifted gardener Henna embarks from her island home to search for the plant that might save her papa's life in this vibrant story of love, grief, and growth.

Twelve-year-old Henna loves living with her two papas and cultivating her beloved plants on the tiny island of Earth's End--until Papa Niall grows seriously ill. Now Henna is determined to find a legendary, long-extinct plant with miraculous healing powers, even though the search means journeying all the way to St. Basil's Conservatory, a botanical boarding school rumored to house seeds of every plant ever grown. At St. Basil's, Henna is surrounded not only by incredible plants, but also, for the first time, other kids--including her new roommates: wisecracking, genderfluid P, who gleefully bends every rule they come up against, and wealthy, distant Lora, who is tired of servants doing everything for her, from folding her clothes to pushing her wheelchair. But Henna's search for the fabled healing seed means she doesn't have time for friends--or so she thinks. This tender tale, blossoming with moments of joy, is a story of hope, grief, and learning to flourish with a little help from those around you.

Author Notes

Tara Dairman is the author of multiple middle-grade novels, including the All Four Stars series and The Great Hibernation , and the picture book Desert Girl, Monsoon Boy , illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan, which was named a Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of the Year. Tara Dairman holds a BA in creative writing from Dartmouth College, has traveled to more than ninety countries, and, after a few years of adventuring around the United States in an RV with her family, now lives in Colorado.

Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 3--7--Twelve-year-old Henna has lived her entire life on the tiny island of Earth's End in the Gardenia Isles. Once renowned for its abundance of orange groves, the islands are now mostly barren and sparsely populated. Her island was once the home of the monastery of St. Hortense, horticulturalists who devoted their work to collecting and cataloging the native plant life. Henna came to the island on the Orange Boat, an old vessel that makes the island circuit delivering mail and supplies, as an infant in a box. Old Manol, the ship's captain, delivered the infant to inhabitants of Earth's End, who came to be Henna's papas; fair-skinned, artistic Niall and strong, dark-skinned Joaquim. Growing up with just her papas on the island means she is quite adept at gardening, growing, and harvesting food. Joaquim fishes while Niall paints and makes their home comfortable. Henna's life is content until one of her papas falls critically ill. Henna consults an old island book of plants that could unlock the secret to curing him. But to prepare the cure, she must leave the island and her parents to attend St. Basil's Conservatory School, where a secret seed repository could hold the only means to save Papa Niall. A charming and sweet story that shows what lengths a child will go to to protect the ones she loves. Henna's journey to find a cure for her papa is poignant yet adventurous. The characters she meets along the way are diverse and entertaining, from her genderfluid friend P to the quirky staff at St. Basil's. Yet the heart of the story lies in Henna's devotion to her fathers and finding the strength to allow others to help her when she has only known how to fend for herself. Filled with gardening vocabulary and information, it may inspire readers to pick up a spade and grow something wonderful. Although the location is fictional, Dairman's afterword mentions that her inspiration came from the people of the Azores Islands, off the coast of Portugal. Henna is depicted with dark hair, and light brown skin. VERDICT Very appealing and rich with touching moments alongside innocent adventure. Readers will become friends with Henna and share in her growth while being thoroughly entertained.--Carol Connor

Publisher's Weekly Review

Twelve-year-old Henna Quinn-Correira, described as having sun-bronzed skin, has lived at the Gardenia Isles' remotest island, Earth's End, since being delivered by boat as an infant. Though her two papas, dark-complexioned Joaquim and pale-skinned Niall, weren't expecting to receive a baby in response to an ad for art project supplies, she's been with them ever since--developing an affinity for plant life and studying the Great Soil Blight that wiped out the islands' citrus industry. When Papa Niall's seeming allergies turn out to be the recurrence of a serious lung cancer, and Henna learns of the nightwalker plant--a rare, healing epiphyte of the islands' now-blighted orange trees--the girl leaves home to attend St. Basil's, the Gardenias' foremost plant sciences academy. The school may prove the repository of the nightwalker's remaining uncultivated seeds, which, Henna hopes, might be planted symbiotically with the island's last remaining orange tree to save Papa Niall's life. While thoughtfully building out the islands' natural world and touching on themes of discrimination, sustainability, and corporate ethics, Dairman (Desert Girl, Monsoon Boy) raises the stakes as quiet exposition gives way to a page-turning final half. The cast is intersectionally diverse; an author's note concludes. Ages 8--12. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary. (Mar.)