Plant a Little Seed

Christensen’s (The Princess of Borscht) sturdy, wood engraving–style illustrations show carrots, pumpkins, chard, and beans that look good enough to eat—but waiting is just as important a theme as eating in these verses (“We water and weed/ and dream and wait/ and water and wait some more”). Two neighbors, a yellow-haired girl and a dark-skinned boy, watch as the plants in their garden sprout, flower, then produce fruits and vegetables that they can’t help but sample: “When the fruit’s the perfect size/ we munch it warm right off the vine,/ sweet and sharp upon our tongues,/ we hold the taste of summertime.” In the fall, the girl rolls the boy in their wheelbarrow along with their glorious crop; at Thanksgiving, they sit at the table amid friends and family. They tackle the whole project with almost no adult help—parents appear occasionally in the periphery, but the focus is on the efforts and dedication of the two children. Strong verse and reassuring surroundings confer a sense of the cycle of life and time. Ages 3–7. Agent: Marcia Wernick, Wernick and Pratt Agency. (May)