Here Are the Seeds

Two round-faced, curly-haired children, one in pink and looking slightly older (bigger, takes on more active roles in planting) than the smaller child in red, happily plant vegetable and fruit seeds in a bare garden plot. They visit the plot and observe it diligently. Sometimes it is too hot, and their plants droop, or there is not enough sun, or there is too much rain, or an outbreak of mushrooms. Each time something unexpected happens, the plants are threatened and the children cry out, “oh no!” When nature and nurture work together in balance, however, the garden finally becomes a lush place full of not only their crops but also flowers, bugs, and animals.

The text starts simply, with the first sentence from the excerpt above, then the second, each on a double spread. Thereafter, an element is added to the first part of the sentence with every other double spread (i.e., “Here are the plants/which spring from the earth/that nurtures the seeds/…” etc., etc.), so the sentence grows longer and longer as in some children’s word/memory games. An alternating “oh no!” double spread will show a problem with the garden, such as too much rain, which will be solved by the element being introduced in the next double spread with “Here is the XX/ that [solves the problem of the previous double spread]/ that [refers to preceding element]/…” and so on according to the formula. Because of this formula and its rhythm, the narrative takes on a calm, reassuring note that culminates in the flourishing garden at the end.

I read the children as Black, the child in pink as older and a girl, and the smaller child in red as younger and a boy. The house is in a seemingly rural setting (no paved sidewalks, cars, roads or other houses in sight, no home electronics or digital devices inside the house, the simplified yellow cabin looks rather like an old-timey barn design) and in a generic unspecified climate/location. According to the colophon, the artwork was rendered digitally. It looks rather like art made by a skilled schoolchild, using poster paints: shapes are simplified, colours are vibrant, some shading but not a lot, no outlines or negative space, dots for the children’s eyes, and bees and worms have smiley faces. The endpapers are a lemon-curd yellow, and the front endpaper is covered with pea-green seed packets: carrots, tomatoes, peas, radish, strawberry, squash. The back endpaper is covered with the bounteous vegetables and fruit which the children have presumably harvested. The colophon includes a little illustration of the two walking with a full basket of vegetables and a watering-can full of flowers. The effect is warm, happy, perhaps a little nostalgic, which I guess was intended by the illustrator in her careful choice of things not to show.

Here Are the Seeds could be a picture book depicting, but not necessarily from (printing in so many colours used to be difficult!) any period after girls began wearing jumper dresses with leggings underneath. It is likely to stay undated and fresh for a long time. The friendly information page at the end explains the balance needed in the garden ecosystem. Some important concepts, such as photosynthesis, pollination and decomposition, were included but at a much more sophisticated understanding level than that needed for enjoying the rest of the picture book. I’d definitely see a grownup reading Here Are the Seeds to the four-year-old in their lap, but I can also see it being used to illustrate the concepts of an ecosystem to an older child or a group of older children.