Every so often I come across a picture book that makes a deep impression on me. Today's review title is just such a book. The beautifully crafted text is perfectly married to gorgeous artwork that is both sweet and powerful.
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Penguin, 2013, 978-0-399-25792-6
On a bright sun-drenched August day Miss Maple comes
flying home on the back of a little blue bird. Soon more blue birds arrive and
each one is carrying a basket on its back. In the baskets, nestled in soft beds
of grass, are the seeds Miss Maple has been collecting all summer. These seeds
are the ones that “got lost during the spring planting.” Miss Maple is going to
care for these seeds in her maple tree home and get them ready for the planting
season in the coming year.
Miss Maple
carefully washes each seed, saying “Take care, my little ones, for the world is
big and you are small.” While the weather is still fair, Miss Maple takes her
charges on field trips so that they will learn what it means to be a seed. She
shows them the river that may carry them to their new home. She travels on the
wind to show them the fields and forests.
During the cold
winter months Miss Maple and her animal friends gather in Miss Maples cozy
little home to eat together and to share stories and songs. In the spring the
seeds are introduced to the rain, which they will one day need. Then, at last,
the day comes when Miss Maple must “send her seeds off to find roots of their
own.”
In this special
picture book beautiful artwork is paired with a lyrical text to tell the story
of a little lady who appreciates the potential the lies in the seeds she cares
for. She knows that each seed, no matter how small it is, has within it the
ability to travel far and to do great things.
Children and
grownups alike are going to love this gentle and meaningful tale.
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