cover image The Seedling Child

The Seedling Child

Ruth Lercher Bornstein. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P, $12.95 (30pp) ISBN 978-0-15-272459-7

In this picture-book fantasy, a little girl, ""Once upon a time/ when the world was new,'' plants a seed given to her by three birds. She and her stuffed toys tend the flower, which finally opens to reveal a ``seedling child'' hidden inside. A miniature version of the little girl herself, the seedling child lies ``cold and dark'' as death until the little girl breathes her ``own warm breath into the tiny creature'' and it comes alive. The seedling child climbs out of the flower. She and the little girl have a picnic and make friends with a scary monster, but as the sun sets, the seedling child turns into a bird and flies away. Bornstein's drawings are filled with old-fashioned stuffed toys and lemon-yellow sunlight, but the dreamy text lacks tension, and some children will find the seedling child's birth confusing. Ages 3-7. (March)