Testimonials

“I like this book because it inspired me because – yeah, the flower never gave up – and sometimes, well, I usually give up in a lot of things, but the first time I read this book I really liked it, so now I don’t give up!”

Izzy, aged 10, Needwood Primary School, Staffordshire.
“I really enjoyed the book because of the many children in the world that are struggling in the world – it will give them the motivation to keep going, and I think, for people who are getting really sad and unhappy, this book would probably cheer them up.”

Oliver, aged 10, Needwood Primary School, Staffordshire.
“What I picked up from this book is that even the smallest person can go so far with only the tiniest bit of love. My favourite page is the one at the end because it shows the growth from the little flower we saw right at the very beginning to the beautiful thing that it’s become; you can interpret this story however you want but I really like that as the message from the book.”

Elizabeth, aged 10, Rangemore Primary School, Staffordshire.
Flower Power Book has given us such an amazing experience. I don’t think I have ever experienced something so wonderful before, and you have made that experience just grow and grow and grow.’

May, Level 2 Performing Arts Student, Burton & South Derbyshire College.
‘In more ways than one this book has changed our lives completely; it has pushed us to do things we wouldn’t normally do and to uncover so many different facets of ourselves that we didn’t know we had, on top of developing things that we already knew we could do. It has changed so much of our lives.’

Keir, Level 2 Performing Arts Student, Burton & South Derbyshire College.
‘I have learnt to do things that I wouldn’t normally do as a result of this project with Flower Power Book.’

Nathaniel, Level 2 Performing Arts Student, Burton & South Derbyshire College.
‘We have all had a good smile from working with Flower Power Book.’

Mr Oliver Wright, Tutor, Burton & South Derbyshire College.
‘I think the fact that a book that is aimed for pre-school children has managed to capture such a wide audience regardless of who they are, the fact that anyone can look at Flower Power! and say, ‘That’s me!’ is not something easy to do, and the fact that it wasn’t planned – the way it happened – it’s something magical. I have never seen something done like it before. It’s one of a kind. It’s a story for children but on top of being a really good story for children, ‘stretch, smile and grow’ is good advice for anyone.’

Keir, Level 2 Performing Arts Student, Burton & South Derbyshire College.
‘Flower Power! is a book that everyone can read – it hits home for a lot of people – as people are reading it they can say: ‘That’s my story and I can stretch, smile and grow from that.’ The other aspect of it is that it is a really nice book for children. We have had such a good experience with this book – the pictures, the wording, the music – it’s amazing how it has all been put together.’

May, Level 2 Performing Arts Student, Burton & South Derbyshire College.
‘I think the book is very engaging, and I feel that children from all age ranges can get a message from the book. It may look like a children’s book but there is a hidden meaning that is there for you to interpret for yourself.’

Purple, Level 2 Performing Arts Student, Burton & South Derbyshire College.
“My baby brother really enjoyed looking at the pictures.”

Nathaniel, Level 2 Performing Arts Student, Burton & South Derbyshire College.
‘Flower Power Book looks like an excellent resource for schools and children going forward, and hopefully we can get the University of Derby involved in its scientific evaluation as a wellbeing resource.’

Dr Frankie Maratos, Associate Professor & Reader in Emotion Science, University of Derby and Schools Team Leader, The Compassionate Mind Foundation
‘Flower Power!’ is a disarmingly simple story, thoughfully told and beautifully illustrated. Yet this short book uses universal symbols and widely shared experiences to speak powerfully and directly of the transforming power of love in our lives. The accompanying resources carefully point to ways in which its meaning can be traced and unfolded for primary age children in particular, but its message of care, enrichment and growth is for all of us of any age, as it distils the story of God’s love which reaches out to us in Jesus Christ to save, tend and nourish. I warmly commend Caroline Wedd’s parable; born of deep personal experience, it can encourage each one of us in our growth towards fulness of life.’

Rt Revd Dr Michael Ipgrave OBE, Bishop of Lichfield
‘This is a lovely resource to support teaching about compassion and resilience. It contains plenty of ideas to help teachers use the beautiful illustrations to open up conversations for pupils to explore what it means to be emotionally healthy. Supported with music and plenty of additional materials, teachers will find this a very helpful addtion to their work on PSHE, religious education, music and creativity.’

Mary Myatt, Educator, Keynote Speaker and Author
‘Flower Power! is a beautiful book about caring and healing.’

Pauline Anderson OBE, Director of Learning, Inclusion & Skills at Derby City Council
‘The children loved Flower Power! they really loved it, and loved the music. They loved the detail of the illustrations and were enthralled by the story which linked directly to what they’re doing in Science right now. They were really impressed by it all. I thought it was marvellous and we’d love to use it again. Thank you.’

Katy Grocott, Early Years/KS1/KS2 teacher, St Peter’s School, Marchington, Staffordshire
‘Flower Power! is amazing! Our children did a singing competition – it helped to build their confidence with singing. We used it a lot in the school garden because we’re trying to encourage the children to get more involved with this. Thank you.’

Ian Marsh, Headteacher, Scarcliffe Primary School, Derbyshire
‘A beautifully illustrated and well written book with a powerful theme. There is so much to see in the pictures which will encourage children to talk and discuss. The whole thing is complemented by the music.’

Wendy Forrester, Grandmother and Retired Headteacher
‘There’s a lot of love in this book.’

Ada James, aged 8
‘I really like this book. It’s a book you can read to your child and then bring to life by taking your child out into the garden to discover nature – fantastic!’

Nicola Smith, Parent
‘I could look at these lovely pictures for hours and still see something new. There’s a little parcel of joy on every page. You see something and it just makes you smile. When it’s published we’d like to do a book signing for you.’

Beth Harding, Library Manager, Ashbourne, Derbyshire
‘Love the book and think it would issue well in the library if published. It would be good for both story time and EYFS/Y1/Y2 curriculum support. Really like the music – definitely gives it the feeling that it is a whole ‘package.’’

Liz Gardener, Stock, Services & Activities Officer, Burton upon Trent Staffordshire Libraries and Arts Service
‘We definitely would buy it because it would fit in with so many of our topics. It’s nice how it’s all there, and it’s different from anything else that you can buy off the shelf – that’s what we liked about it. It wasn’t the same thing – we found it completely different.’

Kathryn Helm, Reception/KS1 teacher, Tynsel Parkes First School, Uttoxeter
‘The music was lovely and the story was just perfect for 4, 5, 6 year olds. It really appealed to us, so yes, lovely! Lovely resource!’

Amanda Sharratt, KS1 teacher, Clifton C of E Primary School, Ashbourne, Derbyshire.
‘The children loved Playtime Boogie and enjoyed putting an ostinato part to this. When asked, they said that they enjoyed all of the songs but Red Watering Can, Playtime Boogie and Begin It Now were their favourites. The songs were very catchy and the children clearly enjoyed them.’

Katie Growcot, Early Years/KS1/KS2 teacher, St Peter’s School, Marchington, Staffordshire
‘What has really inspired them is the music and I’ve had children going outside singing the songs. Every week one little girl with severe SEMH has been and she’s like ‘When is the show? When is the show?’ because she’s desperate to show her carers what we’ve been doing. They’ve all chosen their own parts for the show….They’ve all been really excited, and they’ve come up with their own dances, which have been fantastic.’

Wendy Leiter, Holgate Primary School, Taunton, Devon
‘As a parent who has seen many plays it was fantastic to see such a fresh work performed for the first time, truly engaging and, at times, quite emotional.’

Cheryl Degg, parent
‘I think this would be perfect music for a KS1 musical.’

Katie Growcot, Early Years/KS1/KS2 teacher, St Peter’s School, Marchington, Staffordshire
‘…we’ve decided to do a performance of it. So they’ve been making little head dresses where they’ve made bands of card, cut out petals and leaves and things which they really enjoyed making so there was that whole DT/Art link, and now they’re excited about doing the show.’

Wendy Leiter, Holgate Primary School, Taunton, Devon
‘It’s a lovely idea with the flower and the growing – you can even weave it into an end of year ‘Leaver’s Assembly’, flowering and going off to the next school, so the general consensus was that it was a lovely book. We were particularly taken with the illustrations; we felt they were very original…we loved it! It’s gone down really well.’

Mrs A Jones, Reception/KS1 teacher, Picknall’s First School, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire
‘The children loved going out and using the materials they found outside. I saw lesson 5 too late, we’d just done measuring, but I can see that fitting in really well because we do a lot of measuring things on a sheet, but to measure it from real life would be really good. We’ve done a lot of collecting wild flowers, like dandelions, and they could have measured the dandelions, I could see it working really well.’

Mrs Anna Jones, Deputy Headteacher, Mickleover Primary School, Derby.
‘…they’ve engaged with the pictures, and it’s the detail, like the roots, and you can say, well we’ve talked about growing, and roots going down and shoots going up. And it was all there for us to build on what we were teaching at the same time. We loved it as a book, it was REALLY LOVELY!’

Mrs A Jones, Reception/KS1 teacher, Picknall’s First School, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire
‘They enjoyed the story and linked it to what they had been learning in Science about plants. They were intrigued by the illustrations especially the cross section showing the plant’s roots and the illustrations prompted lots of discussion. They noted how a new bird was added to each page and loved the final illustration of the flower in full bloom.’

Katie Growcot, Early Years/KS1/KS2 teacher, St Peter’s School, Marchington, Staffordshire
‘I absolutely love the pictures, they’re all so bright and colourful, and also they’re the sort of thing that children can look at and think possibly they could ‘have a go themselves’.

Mrs Linda Hack, Headteacher, now retired, Fitzherbert C of E Primary School, Fenny Bentley, Derbyshire
‘We liked the simplicity of the illustrations, it looks like it’s been drawn for you for that book rather than just mass produced. We liked that approach.’

Mrs A Jones, Picknall’s First School, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire
‘It’s a lovely book, the pictures – are beautiful – but the actual text, and the message, there’s quite a lot of different themes that come out of it really. And I think it is a very powerful book because of that. We’d definitely use it again, I think it’s very useful; for the younger children it’s a simple story and you can talk about it on a basic level, but with the older ones you can explain those concepts the book is putting across in more detail, using it like an idea, something to take discussion further about how we relate to each other and how we live our lives, really.’

Jo Lovatt, Sheffield, KS2 Teacher
‘As part of our PSHE and Emotional Education we’ve talked about the story and what it means, and the children have started to make links to ‘that could be my life and actually my teachers are helping me and people are helping me and I’m OK as I am and not a bad person.’ which has been really nice.’

Wendy Leiter, Holgate Primary School, Taunton, Devon