The Real Treasure: A Guest Post by Beth Ferry

By Beth Ferry / November 13, 2025 at 8:00 am

The author of Prunella and The Scarecrow is back with Growing Home, an endearing story of friendship and family featuring lovable, chatty houseplants, pets, and a pesky man in purple shoes. Read on for an exclusive essay from Beth Ferry on writing one of our 2025 Children’s Books of the Year, Growing Home.

Hardcover $17.99

Growing Home (B&N Exclusive Edition) (2025 B&N Children's Book of the Year)

By Beth Ferry
Illustrator Terry Fan , Eric Fan

In Stock Online

Hardcover $17.99

A motley crew of talkative plants, a curious spider, and a grumpy goldfish use their newfound magical abilities to defend their family from a greedy human in this charming middle grade novel from New York Times bestselling author Beth Ferry, with illustrations from the award-winning Fan brothers.

Growing Home was such a pleasure to write for so many reasons, one of which is that I got to unearth a bit of my childhood during the process. Both my parents were collectors and collecting things is a lot like treasure hunting – especially for a child. We would go to flea markets, estate sales, garage sales, and auctions so it was natural (and fun) for me to make the parents in Growing Home antiquarians. (Plus I really love the word antiquarian). I loved going on these treasure hunts but also hated going because you had to get up super early and often had to stay all day. But through it all, there was a delicious sense of anticipation because there was the real possibility that we might actually find treasure! And who doesn’t want to find treasure?

But Growing Home was actually inspired by my editor, Celia Lee, who suggested an idea called Best Fronds Forever. This botanical title planted the seed of actually having a plant as a main character and voilà, five years later, Ivy, the plant who was also a pet, was born. Having a real pet, Toasty, the goldfish, as the foil for Ivy created a sibling-like conflict which allowed me to write a lot of fun dialogue. But their sibling-ish rivalry wasn’t strong enough to carry the plot so I needed a real antagonist and the fascinating world of auctions provided me with just that – in the character of Mr. Brookstone. Having a true “bad guy” allowed the protagonists to understand what they could only understand when faced with an external threat – that Number 3 Ramshorn Drive was their home and they would do what they needed to do to protect it and each other.

I have been delighted to hear from readers how much they love the grumpy Toasty because, honestly, he was my favorite character to write. Who doesn’t love a grumpy character? And who could resist that face? Eric and Terry Fan created a goldfish who is impossible not to love.

But I’ve also enjoyed hearing how readers immediately know that Ivy is just TOO much and that she has to work on being the good friend she thinks she is. Friendship is one of my favorite themes to explore because it is so complicated and wonderful and exasperating and satisfying! I think friendship is a gift and a challenge to people of all ages and is something we always have to work on as humans (and as fish and plants).

Knowing how Toasty and Ivy and all the diminutive characters in Growing Home have been received by readers and families has given me great joy. For an author, this is the real treasure. And that’s something you can’t buy at an auction!