And then the seed grew
Written and illustrated by Marianne Dubuc
One morning, out of the blue, something fell from the sky. And bopped little Jack on the head. A seed!”
This excerpt is printed on the inside sleeve of the book And then the seed grew, giving us a hint of the exciting story we are about to read inside.
The story opens in a garden, where we meet the characters of Mr. Gnome and little Jack (who seems to be a winged insect), both of whom live above ground. Yvonne the mole, the Field Mouse family, Paulie the earthworm and Collette the ant all live underground. They are all living quietly in their respective homes until something falls from the sky and begins to grow. It’s a seed, which has begun to sprout a root. The ants are annoyed since the root is blocking their path, and Yvonne the mole has a crack in her bathroom ceiling. The mice find their birthday party ruined by the invading roots. Still, the plant continues to grow. Mr. Gnome is trapped in his house and finally manages to escape.
The group of neighbours band together and plan to cut the plant down. Then little Jack points out the merits of the plant. It offers shade to keep Mr. Gnome’s house cool. The ants can climb its leaves to better map out their routes in the garden. And most interestingly of all, the plant has sprouted fruit: tomatoes!
They let the plant be and the story ends with more seeds being found.
The book is beautifully illustrated with plenty of detail children will love. The pages are filled with pictures of colourful flowers and plants in the garden the animals and insects live in, and the interior of their “houses,” which resemble human houses, but are underground.
At the end we expect to encounter some humans, but none materialize. It might have added to the story to see how the human owners of the garden interact with the non-human inhabitants, and how the tomato plant benefits them.
The quality and detail of the imaginative illustrations are enough to recommend this book to children. The author lives in Montreal, and has written and illustrated several children’s books.
Reviewed by Caroline Lacombe