Topics – seeds, spring
Summary – From the 60-pound Coco de mer seed to the hundred year-old date palm seed, I never knew how amazing and diverse seeds were. In A Seed is Sleepy, Dianna Hutts Aston, layers the very simple story of a sleepy seed awakening over specific facts about unique seeds. She includes an amazing variety of types of seeds and plants with different adaptations from flying to floating. Sylvia Long’s illustrations are both beautiful and naturalistic, showing the important details of each plant more clearly than a photograph of the plant itself. By anthropomorphizing the seed into a sleepy little creature, Aston enables children to imagine themselves curled up like a little seed protected in its embryo as it gets ready to sprout awake. If you haven’t read Aston and Long’s other books, including An Egg is Quiet and A Nest Is Noisy, they are similar in style and equally terrific.
Suggested Ages – This book is great for pre-K children who can follow the primary storyline and learn from the illustrations. It is great for grade school students as well, who can read the sidebar material and learn many specifics about seeds and plants.
Susan A. Olcott 