Book Review: The Green Kingdom

Book #33 for 2025: The Green Kingdom by Cornelia Funke, 2.5/5 ★
224 pages / releases April 2025 / available here

Goodreads blurb: Twelve-year-old Caspia hates big cities, especially one as busy as New York. So she isn’t thrilled by the news that her parents are taking her to stay in Brooklyn. It's summer-devouring bad luck! But everything changes when Caspia discovers a bundle of letters, hidden in an old chest of drawers. They belonged to two sisters who lived there long ago. Each letter contains a ‘green’ riddle, with clues leading to a different plant. Caspia sets out to solve the riddles and, as she does, she meets friends she could never have imagined and discovers that anywhere can feel like home, if you are just brave enough to put down new roots.

My review: While this is a lovely story and includes a lot of fun facts about plants, unfortunately, this one fell flat for me. I went into it with an expectation of a bit of magic/magical realism, and while it is whimsical in places, this is a story that sits solidly in reality, so those unmet expectations are on me. For a “country girl,” Caspia is (unbelievably) instantly comfortable navigating a strange, busy city entirely on her own (and are her parents?!). I also found the formula for the letters/riddles to get rather repetitive towards the end. The friendships she forms are sweet, but even a host of colorful characters didn’t quite balance the heavy inclusion of technology and lacking depth for me. Sadly, it’s a 2.5 star read for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and DK for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!