The Green Kingdom

The Green Kingdom is an illustrated middle-grade adventure by Cornelia Funke, co-written with ethnobotanist Tammi Hartung, illustrated by Melissa Castrillón, and translated from German by Anna Funke. It follows twelve-year-old Caspia, who is unhappy about spending the summer in Brooklyn after growing up in a small town in Maine. Everything changes when Caspia discovers a bundle of letters hidden in an old dresser. Written decades earlier by a girl named Rosalind to her blind sister Minna, each letter contains a botanical riddle pointing to a different plant. Caspia begins solving the ten “green” riddles, an adventure that takes her through Brooklyn, introduces her to unexpected friends, and helps her discover that a new place can become home when one is willing to form new roots. The novel combines mystery, friendship, urban exploration, plants and natural history, and the experience of being uprooted from familiar surroundings. Its central message is gentle but meaningful: curiosity and courage can transform an unwanted change into a place of belonging.