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From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

At four years old, Marigold still has a lot to learn about the way the world works. Fortunately her older sister, seven-year-old Stella, takes her job very seriously. “I’m going to tell you all the secret things I know,” Stella whispered into newborn Marigold’s ear the first time they met. And so she does, in her kind and clever way. When the plumber removes a hairclip from their clogged drain, everyone knows that Marigold put it there. After their mother scolds Marigold, though, Stella casually explains to Marigold that the objects in the bathroom come alive and walk around each night; obviously, the hairclip fell in during a nighttime excursion. Each chapter presents a different learning opportunity or bonding moment for the white sisters. Embarrassed to have gotten lost in a viewing tunnel at the zoo, Marigold is reassured by Stella’s story about the time the Vice President got lost in their city. When Marigold fibs to her classmates about living in Japan, Stella pretend-travels with her to Japan that evening. The sisters delight in imaginary play that creates a sense of closeness and a special world that only they share. Colorful illustrations add even more sweetness and humor to an appealing sibling story steeped in child sensibilities.

CCBC Choices 2025 © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin – Madison, 2025. Used with permission.

From Horn Book

November 1, 2025
Big sister Stella and little sister Marigold make a welcome return to the page with their own brand of sibling affection. The humor, energy, and poignancy of the first book (Stella & Marigold, rev. 9/24) hinged on their frequent, and entirely plausible, misunderstandings of the adult world, and they are still at it. Here they get the idea that the optimum number of friends is twenty-five, and in nine episodes they work hard to amass that number. During this quest, one (or both) of the duo steals a neighbor's tchotchke, fakes a bloody injury, discovers the solace of duct tape, and runs away from home. The pleasure lies in the fresh particularity of the details in both text and pictures. Nothing is generic. When the girls goof around, they play "catch-the-stuffie-with-your-feet." Blackall's illustration of itchy dresses captures that misery perfectly. The stolen object is not just a mermaid candleholder but a weird, sharp-toothed mermaid chewing on a sailor. This specificity works to keep sentimentality at bay. In a final scene, a kindly upstairs neighbor gives a touching little analysis of what true friendship involves. The girls listen politely, but they don't actually buy it. Life is just way more complicated than any adult seems to realize. A firmly child-centered delight. Sarah Ellis

(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

From School Library Journal

October 3, 2025

Gr 2-4-It's hard to go wrong with a writing and illustrating duo like Barrows and Blackall and the second book in Stella and Marigold doesn't disappoint. With an endearingly accurate portrayal of a child's world view, readers follow the seven-year-old Stella and four-and-eight-twelfths-year-old Marigold in their daily adventures living in their half of a house. In this story, the girls receive a purple book with writing prompts inside as a gift from the cousin they've never met. One of the prompts asks them to list their "besties" and there are just so many lines! Stella and Marigold set out to make more friends and fill those lines, but it's harder than they realize. Young readers will deeply relate to the everyday conundrums faced by Stella and Marigold as they move through the world and the gorgeous illustrations add another dimension of hilarity and understanding. VERDICT Recommended for purchase in all collections, especially where "Ivy and Bean" is beloved and still circulating.

Copyright 2025 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Kirkus

July 1, 2025
The sisters introduced in the remarkableStella & Marigold (2024) tackle friendships and unnerving sirens. When the siblings' well-meaning cousin gives them each a journal, Stella discovers that the notebooks contain 25 lines where they can write in the names of their best friends. Both Stella, 7, and Marigold, 4, feel sharp pains of inadequacy at not having nearly enough pals. What follows are their attempts to make more friends, from their babysitter to their upstairs neighbor and their classmates. In one particularly fraught sequence, Marigold steals a disturbingly toothy (but very funny) mermaid candle holder from her upstairs neighbor; she plans to pretend to find it so he'll be grateful to her. Of course, the heart of the series lies with the relationship between its titular sisters, and the two are as close as ever; a scene where they briefly contemplate running away from home cements their mutual dedication. While the text isn't quite as hilarious as in the first volume, the art may actually be funnier (thanks to the mermaid), with its loving depiction of the realistically nuanced sororal relationship that made the first book a hit. Readers need not be familiar with the earlier installment to enjoy this latest. Both sisters present white; their community is diverse. Some things may come and go, but sisterly friendship like this will stand the test of time.(Early chapter book. 6-9)

COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

From Booklist

July 1, 2025
Grades 1-4 The second volume in the Stella and Marigold series features two imaginative sisters, seven-year-old Stella and four-year-old Marigold, growing up together and dealing with uncomfortable situations at school or in their neighborhood. Each girl is loyal to her sister. When four-year-old Marigold swipes a mermaid statuette from a neighbor, her father insists that she return it and apologize. Stella swiftly rescues Marigold and immediately makes plans for running away from home with her. When realism casts doubt on their chance of success, they simply imagine an alternate scenario. Barrows, author of the beloved Ivy + Bean series, has a gift for revealing the sisters' reactions to situations that puzzle, provoke, or challenge them. There's ample space on the pages for pictures by Blackall, who has illustrated two Caldecott Award-winning books. Her sensitive line drawings make the characters' emotions clear, while her use of color gives the pages an appealing look. An inviting, sometimes amusing offering for children transitioning from beginning-reader books to chapter books or for adults to read aloud at home or in the classroom.

COPYRIGHT(2025) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

From School Library Journal

Starred review from October 1, 2024

Gr 1-3-Barrows and Blackall, the team behind "Ivy and Bean," debut a feisty new duo in this slim chapter book. An opening flashback introduces Stella at age three, waiting in her family's "half-house" (the lower half of a duplex) for her parents to return from the hospital with newborn Marigold. The sisters' bond is immediate, with Stella whispering promises to tell Marigold "all the secret things I know...forever and ever." By ages seven and four, the sisters follow the tradition of countless literary pairs with polite and reserved Stella serving as a foil to plucky, mischievous Marigold. Each of the seven chapters functions as a complete narrative, with no overarching plot uniting them. The common thread is the sisters' mutual devotion, with each vignette providing an opportunity for one sister to serve as heroine to the other, protecting her from embarrassment and guilt or rescuing her from loneliness and boredom. Their relationship is never a source of narrative conflict and is always essential in its resolution. As always, Barrows offers a spot-on childlike perspective that is both funny and keenly observant. Blackall's whimsical illustrations capture the sisters' individual personalities and their shared adoration. Main characters are white. VERDICT This very witty, very tender ode to sisterhood is a first purchase.-Amy Reimann

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Horn Book

September 1, 2024
Stella and Marigold, ages seven and four, are a force to be reckoned with. In eight tightly constructed, linked short stories, we follow the sisters through a domestic plumbing disaster, a visit to the zoo, events at school and preschool, and the construction and maintenance of a close sibling bond. Barrows and Blackall jointly inhabit that authentic childhood territory where the universal ordinary intersects with the specific odd. Stella has the flu. Her mother brings her apple juice. "Stella was surprised at how bad it tasted. It tasted like throat." The text tells us that as Marigold grows up, Stella explains the world to her. The accompanying illustration shows what some of those explanations might involve -- pickles, a jump rope, money, infinity, and more. The stories echo and resonate with one another. The fireplace tiles mentioned in passing in the second story? We finally get to see them near book's end. The theme here is storytelling, and the book is a little subversive in the best children's literature tradition, celebrating the thrill of fibbing even as it ostensibly warns against it. Barrows and Blackall walk this tightrope with skill, cheekiness, and palpable pleasure, their tightly interdependent approach to narrative mirroring the supportive and loving relationship of their two stalwart protagonists. Sarah Ellis

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

From Booklist

Starred review from August 1, 2024
Grades 1-4 *Starred Review* Best known for their ever-popular Ivy + Bean series, Barrows and Blackall now offer the first volume in a new series featuring two sisters. Stella, a bright, imaginative seven-year-old, still remembers when her baby sister, Marigold, came home from the hospital four years ago. Now Marigold plays with children at nursery school several days a week, but she feels closest to Stella, who shares secrets, explains the world, and makes her feel better. The book's structure is episodic, telling a new story in each chapter. Several of these tales feature one or both of the girls creating an alternate reality that relieves them of responsibility for shenanigans such as clogging the sink drain or pretending to be lost at the zoo. Buoyed by an innate sense of fun, the narrative sweeps readers into a world of childhood misadventures and understanding family members. Blackall, who illustrated two Caldecott-winning books, Lindsay Mattick's Finding Winnie (2015) and her own Hello Lighthouse (2018), contributes bright, engaging color illustrations on every double-page spread. This early chapter book for independent readers would be equally enjoyable for reading aloud in homes and classrooms. Often amusing and sometimes endearing, it's a promising start for the Stella & Marigold series.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

From Publisher's Weekly

Starred review from July 15, 2024
The creators of Ivy & Bean return in this delightful series kickoff for early readers that follows sisters Stella and Marigold. In a beginning flashback, three-year-old Stella's parents drop her off at her grandmother's house, where she awaits their return from the hospital with her baby sister in tow. Upon the siblings' first meeting, Stella promises to tell newborn Marigold "all the secret things I know," a vow that sets the tone for the sisters' budding relationship. After Marigold, now four, lies about having clogged the bathroom sink, her parents struggle to understand her decision-making processes. But older sister Stella, seven, "who explained the world to her," has instant compassion for Marigold and helps to restore her confidence in herself and her relationships. Marigold in turn saves the day when a new girl threatens to steal Stella's best friend. Short chapters by Barrows burst with vibrant and colorful illustrations by Blackall that bring the pale-skinned girls and their playful imaginations to life. The experience of being misunderstood by grown-ups is relatably rendered via the sisters' interactions; readers will long for a sibling like Marigold or Stella. Ages 6—9.

From Kirkus

Starred review from July 15, 2024
In this newest series starter from Ivy & Bean creators Barrows and Blackall, two loving sisters navigate the twists and turns of childhood. From the moment Marigold was born, her 3-year-old sister, Stella, was her world, and vice versa. Seven short chapters relate the adventures of imaginative second grader Stella and spiky preschooler Marigold. Barrows plunges readers into the joys, certainly, but also the deep and abiding frustrations of being a kid. Whether Marigold has a bad time at the zoo or Stella fears that she's losing her best friend, the two are always there for each other. The book homes in on distinct and familiar childhood moments with near-surgical skill; Barrows' description of apple juice no longer tasting quite right when Stella is sick is particularly apt ("It tasted like throat"). The stories are certainly in the vein of Ramona Quimby (which the art directly references), in that no one in this book is saintly, beyond reproach, or so perfect that you can't identify with them. Barrows also channels preschooler logic to an eerily accurate degree. Complementing the text, Blackall's superb, digitally rendered art renders Stella and Marigold (who both present white) with fairly simple designs, then brings to life their imaginings with incredibly detailed images featuring everything from magnificent lions to rooster heads. All the heart. None of the pablum. Sisterhood at its finest and freshest.(Early chapter book. 6-9)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

From Horn Book

July 1, 2024
Stella and Marigold, ages seven and four, are a force to be reckoned with. In eight tightly constructed, linked short stories, we follow the sisters through a domestic plumbing disaster, a visit to the zoo, events at school and preschool, and the construction and maintenance of a close sibling bond. Barrows and Blackall jointly inhabit that authentic childhood territory where the universal ordinary intersects with the specific odd. Stella has the flu. Her mother brings her apple juice. "Stella was surprised at how bad it tasted. It tasted like throat." The text tells us that as Marigold grows up, Stella explains the world to her. The accompanying illustration shows what some of those explanations might involve -- pickles, a jump rope, money, infinity, and more. The stories echo and resonate with one another. The fireplace tiles mentioned in passing in the second story? We finally get to see them near book's end. The theme here is storytelling, and the book is a little subversive in the best children's literature tradition, celebrating the thrill of fibbing even as it ostensibly warns against it. Barrows and Blackall walk this tightrope with skill, cheekiness, and palpable pleasure, their tightly interdependent approach to narrative mirroring the supportive and loving relationship of their two stalwart protagonists.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

From AudioFile Magazine

Narrator Marissa Czyz establishes youthful, high-pitched voices for 7-year-old Stella and her 4-year-old sister, Marigold. From the moment Stella met her new baby sister, she promised to tell her all about the world. Stella and Marigold have all kinds of adventures in their home and community as they learn and grow, sometimes even getting into squabbles with their parents. Czyz's narration perfectly reflects the sweet stories of these two sisters and their family. Young fans of realistic fiction will relate to Stella and Marigold and be drawn to their imaginative and joyful personalities. This is a charming story about the importance of family, friends, and community. M.D. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine