Alliums and Criminals - Great Book Concept!

September 27, 2005 5:05 PM

Another book identification question...This is a childrens' picture book, grade level 2-4(?)...

Storyline : Boy decides to enter some kind of local flower contest. Someone suggests that he should grow an allium (This one resulted in a lovely purple globe on top of a tall green stalk), and he does. Continues with boy entering contest, some thief trying to break into his empty house via a tall ladder, and he catches the thief in the act when he comes back to the house earlier than expected. I seem to remember the boy breaking his arm somehow, a footprint in the dirt outside a window (classic!), and a blue ribbon for winning the contest.

You'd think I'd be able to Google something with that much info, but I've come up with absolutely zip.

posted by Liosliath to writing & language (5 comments total)

A couple of questions to help narrow it down:

1) Do you know approximately when the book was written?
2) About how long is it?
posted by Kimberly at 5:14 PM on September 27, 2005

It was probably written sometime in the late '70s or early '80s. It isn't very long, as far as I can remember. It could actually be quite short, but it just seemed longer at the age I was reading it.
posted by Liosliath at 7:48 PM on September 27, 2005

I haven't been able to find anything yet, but you may want to check here if you remember what the cover looks like or think you would know it if you saw it.
posted by Kimberly at 7:45 AM on September 28, 2005

ooh! I found a site called "Stump the Bookseller" for children's books. That's here/
posted by Kimberly at 7:49 AM on September 28, 2005

Could it be Pablo's Petunias? All I could find was a brief description of a boy entering a flower-growing contest in our library card catalog, and this brief description from an eBay seller:


Pablo's Petunias

DePrieto, Mariana Beeching.

Fayetteville Georgia: Oddo Publishing, 1972

Delightful children's story with a great moral tone. Pablo participates in a flower garden competition in a housing development in New York City and learns to deal with the problems encountered.
posted by icontemplate at 8:28 AM on September 28, 2005