Flora Mora isn’t your average eleven-year-old—she has a way with plants! But when she and her trusty sidekicks—Marsik the cat, Speedy the garden snail, and her leafy best friend Greeny—travel to the distant city of Grayland, they find a place drained of color, life, and even smiles. The plants are disappearing… but why? And who’s behind it?
With her green thumb, big heart, and a little help from her unusual crew, Flora is determined to uncover the mystery, bring back the blooms, and prove that even one girl can make a world of difference!
A thrilling adventure full of friendship, mystery, and the magic of nature—perfect for young explorers who believe in the power of plants!
NASTYA For many years, I’ve had a wonderful follower from LA, a talented individual with a wealth of life experience. His name is Richard Oshen. Instagram is truly a magical place, sometimes connecting you with someone and guiding you through life, almost like parallel universes, occasionally throwing dialogues into your direct messages.
RICHARD It was a new beginning in my life. I was informed that the garage studio that I was living was going to be sold. In the time I was live ther, rents in Los Angles jumped sky- high, and I found myself in the uncomfortable position of not being able to rent anything that in my budget – a very humbling experience. I kept looking farther and farther out from LA. I had no idea where Forest Falls was, but there was a place I could rent – so I moved. One day scrolling through Instagram, I randomly came to beautiful art work that was creative in a friendly, gentle and kind way. I stopped scrolling and followed the account. It was Nastya’s! Oddly enough- she was moving too.
RICHARD Nastya and I lost touch during her move. When she surfaced again, I was very happy! I also noticed a big change in her artwork. It was now colorful and vibrant
NASTYA One day, while messaging each other, we made fun that I would be the perfect prototype for a character in a book where plants need help and I save them, helped by my animal superheroes. We laughed it off, thinking it was just a joke.
RICHARD After I published my first book, The Adventures of Pete The Squirrel – In The House, our project seemed very do-able.
NASTYA But then I received an email with the first draft of the manuscript! It inspired me so much. And now I’m already coming up with characters, sketching out all the pages, deciding how they will look, and we make revisions to the sketches and have creative brainstorming sessions with my best possible collaborator. Creating a world is challenging, but once the first illustration is done, the motivation becomes even stronger.
RICHARD At first, I wanted to make plant girl a superhero. She would have superpowers like The Flash, Spiderman, Superman, etc. but her superpower would be expressed through the plant Kingdom. As Nastya and I dived deeper into the story, my thinking evolved: Well, maybe Plant Girl’s superpower is just being KIND. The more I saw what Nastya was drawing, I began to think well, you know, kindness is the most important superpower any person, city, country can possess.
The moral test of society is how it treats the weakest members.
What is more vulnerable than a plant in need or an animal or homeless person? In the future, when people look back at our society of the 20th and 21st centuries — would they say be able to say that WE were kind? And, if they couldn’t say that the whole of society was – perhaps they could at least say many of us were.
