Sprout, Seed, Sprout!

An avocado seed is the star of this short and sweet story. When our protagonist watches the seed pop out, he decides to see if he can get it to sprout. It takes a lot of patience and perseverance, but, with time and care, it grows from a small seed to a generous fruit tree.

Sprout, Seed, Sprout! is a simple tale of a boy and his gardening experiment, but it is sure to have an impact on young readers who want to recreate it. The story relies heavily on repetitions of three as readers patiently wait alongside the protagonist (and his adorable feline sidekick) for the promised bloom. The soft, rhythmic text is satisfying to read, and the muted pastel drawings with pops of bright yellow and green complement it beautifully. Both the words and pictures do a great job of representing the idea of time passing slowly with the repeated chant of “Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.” and the boy’s soft forms and facial expressions. Luckily for readers, despite the spot-on tone, the ending is not so far away, and, in only a few page turns, readers see the tree grow and provide shade as it was meant to do.

Sprout, Seed, Sprout! is a wonderful book for spring as gardening and greenery are on everybody’s radar. Trying to sprout an avocado seed of one’s own would be a perfect follow up activity, but, if not possible, any number of similar kitchen or outdoor gardening experiments would do.