In a world where fairies exist, we meet Wistera, a little flower fairy. She and the other flower fairies have been taking care of earth's flora since the beginning of time. But since humans appeared, they are sort of out of job, because mankind can grow their flowers by themselves, without the fairies' help.

One day, as Wistera aimlessly wanders, she sees a little girl, Elena.
Elena tries to plant some flowers in the garden of her home, but it is clear that she struggles, since the flowers are barely alive.

Wistera becomes enamoured with Helena's smile and love for flowers and gardening and decides to help her.
Everyday, she sneaks in the garden and helps the plants to grow and bloom. But eventually, she is discovered by Helena.

Helena admits to Wistera that she has turned to gardening as a way to make up for her mother's absence, because she works long hours to make ends meet, and that when she was little, they used to plant flowers together.

The fairy and the girl decide to help each other. And by putting their gardening skills and magic together they make the entire garden bloom.

Unexpectedly, more children and more fairies join Helena and Wistera, putting their own skills to use too. And little by little, humans and fairies become friends, while an entire neighborhood is covered in beautiful flowers. The story ends with Helena's mother returning home early and joining her daughter and her new fairy friends in the garden.

This is a beautiful story that children, and not only children, can enjoy.
I loved the fantasy elements and the beautiful messages of friendship, of helping each other and of taking care of the environment, since all of them I find extremely important.

The characters were likeable, I loved the representation (one of the two main characters is a black girl who is being raised by a single mother) and the designs were out of this damn world. Plus, the anime/manga influences are clear.
My only complain is that the text is next to or under the illustrations instead of being in bubbles inside the panels, like it happens with other comics and graphic novels, and that sometimes makes it tricky to understand whose words you are reading.
But other than that, I loved this story and I would love to have it added on my bookshelves.

This was such a lovely read! I loved every second spent in this incredibly wholesome story.

The story wasn’t overly complex, so it left a lot of room for visual storytelling. I’m always annoyed when comics/graphic novels/etc have a lot of dialogue, but this really allowed the art and visuals to carry the weight of the story. I loved that! The dialogue was used just the perfect amount for this sweet short read to be compelling and to get a sense of the characters.

Sprite and the Gardener tells a beautiful message about discovering your purpose in life, finding meaningful friendships, and how it is good to be different. The main character, Wisteria, is new to town and is trying to fit in with the rest of the sprite. She's very unsure of herself at first, but she then discovers that she enjoys cultivating plants. She also develops a friendship with Elena and they work together to grow Elena's mom's garden.

The art is also gorgeous and gives a whimsical feeling to the story. I highly recommend you to pick up this book when you're in a mood for a light read with a cute fairytale-like story :))

Sprite and the Gardener is a heart-warming story that is perfectly suited to those into the cottagecore aesthetic, gardening, and stories centered on teamwork and giving. I adored this graphic novel!
I think the individual sprites all had such beautiful designs. It made me so happy to see Wisteria gain more confidence as she developed her skills on her own but I know it meant more to her to be able to do it with Elena and her new Sprite friends. I especially adored seeing the sparkle and light in Elena's eyes when the first flower bloomed. Another element of the story that made me overjoyed was that Elena wanted to fix up the garden as a surprise to her mother who was unable to tend to the garden due to her work schedule . My only wish is that there was more to the story but I am glad we were able to see the result of the work of the sprites and the gardeners throughout the neighborhood.

3.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Oni Press for providing an e-ARC!

This book is to cute! I love the design of the sprites' and their personalities. I love the sweetness of the story. I'd definitely recommend it to fairy fans!

Beautiful art style, and adorable and diverse characters! Has studio Ghibli and tea dragon society vibes, I adore the style of the plant and flower illustrations. It was the perfect book to read to get me ready for spring!
It also has some sapphic undertones in the relationship between Wisteria and Elena which I was into

A gorgeous, feel good graphic novel. Incredibly sweet hearted and the design and illustrations are superb throughout. A must have for the shop.

It is a very quick read, and it celebrates successfully the nature and the benefits of accepting help for benevolent friends. The story is adorable and wholesome. The coloring and the drawings are gorgeous. I loved the sprites, they are cute. I just wished we got a little more about them because they look like fun ! This book is heartwarming to say the least, we almost regret when it ends.

Sprite and the Gardener is a beautiful debut graphic novel full of friendship, magical realism, and hope. It's a sweet story of a sprite (Wisteria) who moves to a new neighbourhood and starts to care for plants like the sprites of long ago; but when a young human gardener discovers that a sprite was responsible for her garden's growth, how will she react? There are sprinklings of deeper themes - such as difficulties making new friends, a daughter missing her mum, and the fact that modern fertilisers can cause more issues than they solve - but they are gentle enough that the story as a whole is still relaxing and positive.

Many thanks to Oni Press for giving me access to an eARC of this graphic novel so that I could write this honest review. I've never been disappointed by an Oni Press title in the past and this certainly doesn't break that pattern!

Oh, The Sprite and the Gardener has my heart thawing from the winter and blooming from the soft, spring mood blossoming in this short and sweet graphic novel. I have been a fan of Rii Abrego's art for a long time and was so excited to see that she had worked on a graphic novel! The marriage of her art with Joe Whitt's story works wonders here allowing the story to be sweet and delicate without becoming twee. It's been a rough year to say the least and stories about solidarity and creativity saving the day are just what we need.

Sometimes associating a creative work with trends can feel reductive but honestly, if cottagecore/fairycore vibes speak to you at all, you have to pick up The Sprite and the Gardener.

Thank you to Netgalley and Oni for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a sweet, charming tale. Im not a person who reads a lot of graphic novels but I enjoyed it, in terms of the narrative not only was it clear and easy to follow but it held a lot of familiar universally human moments that anyone can relate too. I did feel the colour palate at times felt a little limited but I really loved and appreciated the heart and soul that went into this, especially the additions at the end that showed the creative development and production behind the graphic novel. You would never know that this started off as just one basic concept, the story felt like it had been conceived in its final form from the beginning. The different artists and contributors worked seamlessly together.

Every page was an absolute delight! Collaborators Rii Abrego and Joe Whitt worked together wonderfully to craft a charming story of friendship and new beginnings. Although the story was simple, it was well paced and showcased growth (both emotionally and in terms of the garden the main characters cultivated together). Abrego's panel layouts were a standout (especially the wordless pages 64 and 65). Crank!'s lettering complemented the text and art well. If anything, characters (both supporting and main) could have been developed more. Even Wisteria and Elena, our main duo, were not developed much beyond their goal to grow the garden, and it would have been nice to see additional storylines throughout this novel, adding additional depth to this otherwise simple, yet satisfying, story.

ADORABLE. Absolutely adorable! I love the art style and the story itself is so sweet. The fairy society and the way it's structured is really neat and fun to read, and the human characters are funny and delightful as well. Overall just a really cute story.

This graphic novel was such a joy to read and the art was beautiful.

A quick read that can be re-visited many times, the perfect cottagecore escape into a fairytale full of adorable characters and lots of diversity - which unfortunately isn't always the case for fairytale stories. Alongside the beautiful illustrations sits equally beautiful morals surrounding the love and joy of helping others!

I completely recommend this book to anyone in need of a little escape (which I think we could all do with at the moment).

An adorable little story, full of freshness and positivity in which we follow a little sprite who wants to help a young gardener. Mutual support and self-confidence are the driving forces behind this lovely story, which is targeted more for a very young audience in my opinion.

This was an adorable story about going against norms, not initially fitting in, and making friends. I absolutely loved the beautiful art. There were a few times where the action on the pate wasn't 100% clear. The story is brief and simple—I did finding myself wishing it had more depth to it. Still a very enjoyable read!

This was so adorable and wholesome!
the art was stunning and i loved the main characters! My only wish was that this was longer so i could get more of the side characters, too.

art style 5/5
plot 4.5/5
characters 5/5

The art style is very cutee! And the colorings are so pretty i can't. Please make this a series. I want to see more heartwarming stories and cute sprites!

This may just be the most beautiful graphic novel I have read so far. The illustrations, the colours and all the flowers are absolutely breathtaking. It is seriously so beautiful and I was recommended by a friend and I am so glad I picked it up. Even the story is so heartwarming where the sprites and humans all work and live harmoniously with one another. I cannot recommend this book enough and I think it has become one of my favourite graphic novels and I urge everyone to read it too.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very cute read and honestly, we all need some good, comforting stories in this proving times. If you love gardening, fairies and overall feel-good stories, this is definitely for you.

ALSO, the drawing is spectacular and when this book comes out it will definitely be on my gift list for a couple of friends that love both gardening and fairies.

This was an absolute delight to read and the art is outstanding, I would have loved the story to be a bit longer/more developed, but honestly, it was a great read. Definitely will keep in mind this author for future releases!