Plant a Little Seed (review)

On a snowy winter day, two friends—a tow-headed girl and an African-American boy—page through a seed catalog and dream of their future garden. Come spring, they get to work, planting and caring for their vegetables. The plants continue to grow until it is autumn and time for the harvest, and the story ends with a Thanksgiving table weighed down with the fruits (and vegetables) of the kids' labors. Christensen's ode to vegetable gardening employs rhythmic cadence and careful repetition to capture the anticipation and excitement of growing plants from seeds; the children don't just wait but "water and wait and wait and dream . . . and dream and wait some more." Gardening facts are occasionally interwoven into the story and illustrations ("Some plants grow up, some grow down, some grow fast, some grow slowly"), and the narrative is alive with sensory details, from vivid descriptions of the plants and flowers, to the sounds ("Our garden sings with buzzing bees, with rustling leaves and cawing crows, with gentle rain and whirring wings") and tastes ("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"). The painted woodblock illustrations offer vibrant depictions of the growing garden, and the textures add an organic appeal; occasional seeds are sprinkled throughout the pages for further visual interest. A page of facts about gardens and gardening is appended.