Author: Kadir Nelson
Illustration: Kadir Nelson
Publisher and year: Balzer + Bray, 2015
Number of pages: 32 pages
Genre: Picture Book
With nice oil paintings, the book If You Plant a Seed tells the story about the power and rewards of some of our very small acts and the virtue of kindness. It teaches children that a seed of kindness instead of selfishness can grow into such sweet fruits.
The cover of the book is a tiny mouse and a bigger rabbit. They are both looking at a just budded seed with hopeful expressions. On the first page, we see horizon and mountains far away with sunlight casting on the rabbit, mouse, and the seed that is about to be buried in soil. The warm color makes us feel hopeful that something will definitely grow.
The rabbit and the mouse planted a tomato seed, a carrot seed, and a cabbage seed. Then they started waiting. They buried the seed, read some books at night, faced some rain, and took care of the seeds with love and care. On the next page, we see them jumping up high in the air while cheering that tomato, carrot, and cabbage had really grown. Then we see the rabbit holding and eating a carrot and the mouse holding and eating a tomato. The tomato and cabbage look huge in the picture.
Suddenly some colorful birds came. The rabbit and the mouse stared at them for a little while. Then the story goes “If you plant a seed of selfishness, in a very short time, it will grow, and grow, and grow, into a heap of trouble.” All the animals have fruits being tossed on their bodies and they seem miserable. “But if you plant a seed of kindness, in almost no time at all, the fruits of kindness will grow, and grow, and grow, and they are very, very sweet.”
The rabbit and the mouse started sharing their fruits with the birds. Then the birds flew away and carried back countless seeds. Now they planted the seeds and waited together! The seeds grow and grow into a gigantic heap altogether. The birds are flying high. The rabbit and the mouse are very happy again.
At the end, many other animals came and ate the fruits together. They seem very happy. Many of them are looking right at us while holding a fruit. It feels like we are sharing the rewards of kindness together.
This book celebrates the virtue of sharing and kindness through this story among animals. The illustrations can show us how miserable the rabbit and the mouse are when they are being selfish. The illustrations can also show us how happy everyone seemed when they are all sharing the fruits they planted together.
