‘The Poison Diaries’ is a book for children- and adults. The story is short- an abusive apothecary takes on a young boy named Weed as an assistant and puts him in charge of the poison garden- but it works as a fairy tale, has a moral, and is an emotional story. It’s the illustrations that are so marvelous, along with information on the poisonous plants that’s included. As Weed tends the poison garden, the plants take turns speaking to him, telling him their tales and their medicinal and toxic uses- and their hatred of the apothecary. It’s a dark tale, and the illustrations are dark, too- even the brightest pages have a pale gray wash on them.

Some reviewers have said that they didn’t think this would be a good book for children, but I know I would have loved this book when I was in elementary school, and I know a lot of others who would feel that way. It’s in the same vein as many of the tales in the various books of fairy tales; they get pretty bloody and grim and kids love them. ( )

I want this book badly! I have a thing for gardens!

The Poison Diaries
by The Duchess of Northumberland
Illustrations by Colin Stimpson

Story Title: 4/5
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 4/5
Ending: 3/5

Synopsis:
Weed is an orphan, taken in by the local Apothocary and taught the ways of medicine. One day, a world of poison plants is revealed to him... but... what's this? The plants can talk... and boy-oh-boy do they have things to say.

Character Likability:
Weed: Weed is... a bit... er, touched in the head. He's not quite right, and as the book progresses, you see as much. He's an interesting, dark character.
The Plants: Wicked, evil and with one track minds... and yet, not wicked and evil because all they are truly doing is utilizing their own defense mechanisms. Truly they are hellbent against humans though... and truly revel in the demise of them.
The Apothocary: Awful man. He's meant to be, though, so he's a good character.
Marigold: An Innocent, and pretty vague... she shows up in passing and is what roots Weed to a life of non-evil.

Quality of Writing:
Very interesting story... at times, I felt the story was a little jumpy... the main character waffling between good and bad without any really good reason... but overall it was cohesive and fast flowing.

Ending:
A very dark, disturbing ending. I enjoy dark and disturbing, so I liked it, but I'm not sure this ending, or this book would be something everyone can handle. If you are disturbed by gore, horrible deaths, and them being both described and illustrated... I would recommend you pass on this book all together.

Plot:
Essentially, this is the story of a young boy slowly going mad. It's dark, disturbing, filled with awful deaths, horrible murders and the worst side of humanity. *I* found it fascinating... I especially found it fascinating that I found this book in the Children's section. It has detailed diagrams of VERY poisonous plants... diagrams that proceed to point out which parts are the poisonous ones, and how to use them to kill people. It also has vivid descriptions of how the poisons act on the body, and in what horrible ways they will make you die. Interestingly, it also tells you how they are used medicinally.
In this story, Weed (the boy) talks to the plants, and the book itself is broken down into short stories based on which plant he's talking to. Each plant is hilarious, and has it's own distinct personality... and tells Weed some terrible story of how it helped kill someone. Often it is accompanied by very graphic illustrations (I bought the book because I opened up to this page randomly:

Go here to see pic: http://littlesqueed.blogspot.com/2010/11/review-poison-diaries.html

and wondering just what kind of kids book this was!!) Turns out, its a book I'm not sure I'd ever give to an actual child... and a book that might possibly be rather dangerous in the hands of most adults. I personally think this book is dark, twisted, and fantastic... but it most certainly isn't for those with weak stomachs or low tolerance for *really* horrible things happening.

Believability of World:
It seems to be set in 'olden days' ... and I'm not sure how hard it is today to track some of these poisons.

Illustrations:
This book is beautiful. Hands down one of the prettiest books I've seen in a while, despite its content. The illustrator is a Disney artist who has worked on things like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Emperor's New Groove and Tinkerbell. The illustrations are top-notch and seriously beautiful, even when they're absolutely disturbing.

Overall Grade: A (SERIOUSLY, if you don't like graphic violence, don't read this book. It depicts, as you can see, vomiting and horrible death, and describes them vividly in the text) ( )