Review of "A Parrot Tail Lily" by Tuula Pere, PhD

Score: 93+/100 (9.3+ out of 10)

A Parrot Tail Lily is yet another unique and special children's book by Tuula Pere!

Now, like a lot of Pere's extraordinary books, there's a basic/surface-level reading of it, then there's a deeper reading.

On the surface, A Parrot Tail Lily follows the story of Cosmo, a dedicated gardener renowned for cultivating rare and beautiful flowers. His passion for plants leads him to isolate himself from people, spending all his time tending to his prized garden. One day, he discovers an exceptionally rare plant, the titular Parrot Tail Lily, which he believes needs extraordinary care. In his obsession to protect and nurture it, Cosmo isolates the flower, removes other plants, builds fences, and restricts natural interactions, inadvertently causing the lily to suffer rather than thrive.

His niece, Nelly, visits and helps him realize that his overprotectiveness was harming the plant instead of helping it. She reminds him that plants, like people, need community and time to grow at their natural pace. In the end, Cosmo learns from his mistakes, allowing nature to take its course. His garden flourishes again, including the Parrot Tail Lily, which grows new seedlings, ensuring its survival.

This book says so much more than just talking about taking proper care of your garden and garden plants. It also says a lot more than just promoting the idea that human beings are social beings who require social contact and connections.

There are actually deeper implications to the events of this book and the feelings/actions of its characters, primarily Cosmo.

Cosmo does seem to suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)--or at least obsessive behavior--which is put into overdrive and triggered by the appearance of this rare plant.

Now, his apparent OCD is not entirely a bad thing and may explain seems to be a major source of his success and excellence in terms of gardening. He's a perfectionist, in a sense, with extremely high standards and expectations for himself and his plants. So, add an ultra-rare plant into the mix, and you effectively send his OCD, perfectionist drives into the stratosphere (and beyond).

Incredibly, the Parrot Tail Lily is sorta a reflection, a foil, an outward manifestation, and a mirror of his psyche all rolled into one.

It embodies both the brilliance and the burden of his obsessive nature—his drive for perfection, his relentless pursuit of excellence, and his inability to let things grow on their own. The lily, like Cosmo, is rare and extraordinary, but its very existence pushes his compulsions to new extremes. It serves as a living paradox, representing both his greatest achievement and his ultimate downfall.

At the same time, the lily is also a symbol of his isolation—a single, extraordinary thing set apart from everything else, just as Cosmo has distanced himself from people in his pursuit of perfection. But as the lily begins to suffer under his excessive care, it forces him to confront an uncomfortable truth: his need for control is suffocating the very thing he loves.

Ultimately, the Parrot Tail Lily isn’t just a rare plant—it’s a test, a reckoning, and a revelation. It challenges Cosmo to reassess his methods, teaching him that true mastery isn’t about controlling nature but understanding it. And in the end, just as the lily gives way to new life, so too does Cosmo’s rigid perfectionism begin to soften, allowing him to rediscover balance, connection, and the beauty of imperfection.

This book also explores the dangers of possessiveness—of holding onto beloved things so tightly that you destroy, damage, or drive them away.

Cosmo tries to "love" the Parrot Tail Lily so much that he stunts its growth, causes it to become sick, and nearly kills it off. He gives it so much water that it starts to drown. He keeps the bees away from it, robbing it of its ability to provide nectar and be pollinated.

This is analogous to overprotective, overbearing, and/or "helicopter" parents who can't let their children do anything on their own. They try to control everything they think and do rather than allowing them to explore and learn on their own.

Another thing that this book seems analogous to is racial segregation. Cosmo separates all the other, less rare flowers from the rare Parrot Tail Lily, hurting them all in an attempt to protect the Parrot Tail Lily.

You could even make the argument that this book could serve as an analogy for immigration or racial diversity. By trying to keep the flowers separate, Cosmo severs their ability to be social and to help one another.

We could go on and on about the different, deep messages that could possibly be buried in this book, but you can check it out yourself on Amazon!