Customer Reviews

The Poison Diaries

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I saw a brief review of this book in a magazine and (being a Master Gardener)was intriqued by its title. I went to a local bookstore to see if it was worth the price. It was and bought it on Amazon. Though not truly for adults, I do not have children and still enjoyed it. The illustrations are wonderful and the story quite Dickinsonian/Victorian. Everyone I have shared this book with has bought it and found it equally delightful. At the price it makes a great gift.

How refreshing to find an illustrated book that's not necessarily a children's book. While macabre at it's core, it's a fun and lighthearted read akin to Edward Gorey and Tim Burton. If you enjoy fantasy or mystery novels, gothic fare, etc... don't miss the opportunity to read this little gem.

Let's face it: usually and typically Garden books are a Find for Gardeners only. But this one? Different species altogether!

I found the book by mere chance in our College bookstore and was immediately smitten. Everything fits in this book: an eyecatching cover, fabulous layout, quirky story and really interesting botanical information. I found some "Lords&Ladies" in my own backyard and let me tell you, after reading the book I will stay away from them and definitely never tell any visiting children about them, either.

Great coffee table book with a twist for not just plant lovers and a wonderfully macabre garden story that is just plain neat.

I love the illustrations and story, such a gorgeous book for the price! I wouldn't expect to find this book for under $10, and it's original twenty something price fits it as well. Definitly worth picking up for less than two!

My 16 year old daughter is very picky about the books she reads, as she is so easily bored...so I am always on the look out for the neat or unusual (as I am a book lover and try to encourage her to be one too every chance I get)...When I read about this book on Amazon, I thought it sounded intriguing !

The Poison Diaries, ended up being MUCH more than just intriguing, it was a dark, witty, wonderful story about a boy named Weed and my daughter LOVES this book !!! I enjoyed it very much also. I love books, and am often at Barnes and Nobles or on Amazon, browsing them...but this is honestly a gem of a book and I am so happy I happened across it and would highly recommend it !

I picked up this book after seeing it on the reading list of a fellow blogger. I immediately fell in love with the gorgeous illustrations. It reads much like a diary in wonderful fonts and coupled with gorgeous ink pen drawings. The Duchess of Northumberland recently opened a poison garden and wrote this book with the help of illustrator Colin Stimpson to tell the story of one Weed, who is the apprentice to a horrid apothecary. The various herbs in the poison garden speak to Weed and tell their attributes in grisly detail through the use of an entertaining story that will both terrify and teach. The plants are personified by ridiculous accents and amusing characteristics. Before each story is an information block on the herb in question, explaining both the medical and poison traits of the plant. All of the plants, of course, in this book are poisonous. The Duchess wishes to teach about these plants in our world, because she feels that everyone, even children, should know the dangers and helpfulness of these poisonous plants.

Be warned if you wish to read this to your children, it is not for the faint of heart. The illustrations are, though very beautiful, at times graphic. I remember picking it up and thinking: "This is a children's book?". Read with care.

Of all the things, I found a new copy of this book at a local dollar store. I couldn't believe it, but there it was. So that's how I found it, but I would have paid the original price for a work of such literary and visual art.

Having picked up this book on a whim for next to nothing, I really wasn't expecting too much. I flipped through quickly, saw some great illustrations and threw it in my cart. Little did I know how much my 11 year old would enjoy this book. He is utterly fascinated by not only the illustrations and the stories, but the educational aspect of it as well. I highly recommend it to those kids and parents that enjoy a quirky, dark read.

This book was a leap of faith for me because there was no "Browse Inside" feature (at the time of this writing) and I was completely unfamiliar with Colin Stimpson's work. But there was just something about the description that kept tugging at me and I thought it would be a great Halloween treat (with fewer calories than candy)--and I was right.

It's more of a lightweight character study than a plot-driven children's book. Weed, an orphaned child in the care of malevolent man, is drawn into a secret walled garden by the lure of all the poisonous plants. Each of these plants speaks to him and ultimately motivate his decisions. This quirky book is his diary of sorts.

Weed introduces us to new plants, provides a few "facts" about how they look and what they do, and conveys what they say to him. Each plant has a distinct personality--from matronly to tyrannical to dominatrix and a few in between. The illustrations that went along with each of them were phenomenal. Each sketch had an underlying sense of purposeful movement--even the plants took on a whole new feeling of life.

Overall this was a creepy, atmospheric book with a twisted story and breath-stealing illustrations. It may be unsuitable for young children as the story involves some truly dark choices (i.e. abuse, manslaughter, and murder), but it's great for older children (12+) and adults who enjoy edgy, dark artwork.

As far as using this book as a guide to deadly plants, you'll need to look elsewhere. Though the plants' properties are close to accurate, many liberties were taken in their descriptions and death-inducing properties. And, what I thought was a nice touch, the highly toxic plants were accompanied by a variation of the skull and crossbones warning rendered from the plant's parts (i.e. seeds or flowers and stems).

A little boy named Weed has been taken under the wing of a really hateful tutor. His reasoning; Weed can talk to plants and, through these talks, can understand their most valued secrets. His master values this and covets it, too, because his master wants to know more about a specific thing - poison. Weed doesn't want this, howeve,r because Weed is a lover and not a killer. He simply wants a place to belong, someone to love, and someone that loves him back.

Within the garden he finds it all, plus he finds soo, sooo much more.

When I first looked at this book, The Pressed Fairy Book popped into my mind. I could see the idea and I could see the way it was carrie dout, but this remark stuck with me - and then I opened the book. I can say some of the ideas with regards to drawing might have had something faintly resembling the other book, but TPD and pressing fairies are a long way off.

I loved them both almost immediately - that was their commonality that I would later find.

As far as the stories, I loved the way it is all set up. First you have a drawing of the plant that will be talked to, Ricin for example, and the ways it helps and hurts and the thoughts on it. Weed will talk to it and he will learn about it from its own "mouth," too, and those thoughts are great. The way the art gives the plants anthropormorphic bodies and the tales give them lives that deal with jealous lovers, needs for beauty, and so much more really was a treat. They told Weed of their power through parables and told people of their prowess through pictures and the warnings, making this a grand book to have.

I have had SOOO many people comment on it now and, honestly, it has always been worh obtaining.

If you think "kid's book," you could be right but I didn't bill it as such at first. I am over 30 and this spoke to me at once, making me laugh and making me sad and even understainding what Weed was going through. He had the knowledge of power and he felt love's little touching sting and, in the end, he makes mistakes and proves he is only human. This makes it a tale that al parties can enjoy - IF the parents want to review it first to see if their children can understand the why" here.

Kudos to the ART, bravo to the telling, and so many more compliments for everything else here. If I had one wish to go with it, i would have liked more plants. Still, what is this but a wish from someone that simply loved the thing they buried themselves in?

Buy it without thinkinging about it - just enjoy it and put it on your coffee table, allowing others to see it as well. It is an instant conversation piece that you will fall for.