Some seeds look like eyeballs, some like hamburgers, and others like tadpoles. Grassy, grooved, smooth and spiked- seeds are the stars of this book. Their unhurried, secretive qualities are revealed with every page of illustrations and text. Their beauty is showcased, and their variety and ubiquity are highlighted. From flowers to fruits to nuts and coffees, seeds start it all. Teeming with facts, observations, and illustrated examples, this book about seeds has much to reveal.
This is the second book by author-and-illustrator team Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long. Aston, a former journalist living in Texas, wrote An Egg is Quiet and Loony Little . Long lives in Arizona, and her illustrations can be seen in An Egg is Quiet and Snug as a Bug . In A Seed is Sleepy , these two women work wonders in seeds, the life of seeds, and all they can achieve. All around, seeds are fascinating, and it shows. Sylvia Long’s ink-and-watercolor illustrations are gorgeous; close up and detailed, all the seeds in this book look so different. Their uniqueness in size, structure, color and texture will amaze children. You can almost smell the sunflower seeds on the first page - they look that real.
What is revealed in this well-researched book confirms just how ingenious seeds are. The aliveness of a seed and all it can (and does) accomplish is amply demonstrated inside. This superb book can be used both in and out of the classroom.