Review by Booklist Review
Maple seeds twirling in the wind, tumbleweeds rolling across the prairie, burdock seeds sticking to socks, coconuts drifting across the ocean, fig seeds falling to the ground in bat droppings, and acorns buried by forgetful squirrels are some of the examples used here to introduce methods of seed distribution. Each is introduced on a double-page spread, in which a few lines of poetic text provide information succinctly, while the occasional use of internal rhyme or onomatopoeic words gives verbal punch to the presentation. The plants' varied habitats give broad scope to artist Paparone, who offers a series of acrylic paintings that show seeds traveling within distinctive locales. Pleasing in their colors, compositions, and decorative elements, the pictures clearly show points made in the text. The final pages offer an illustrated glossary of words relevant to the topic. Satisfying and well designed for both classroom sharing and individual reading.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2008 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-4-Macken's crisp text reveals burdocks sticking to a kid's socks and to a rabbit's fur, touch-me-not seeds exploding from their pods, and acorns being interred energetically by provident squirrels. A final segment explores several kinds of seed "containers" (pods, fruit, nutshells) and the varying shapes of a number of seeds (peach pits, corn kernels, peas), and explains the stages of growth from seed to flowering plant. All the while, in careful step, Paparone's bright, realistic acrylics present clear pictures of the featured seeds in their natural dispersals, from tumbleweeds rolling across a Western landscape to coconuts dropping into a tropical sea. Many of the double-page illustrations contain a circular "bubble" with close-ups of leaves, flowers, pods, etc. Team this inviting introduction with Ken Robbins's elegant Seeds (S & S, 2005) and/or Helene J. Jordan's simple How a Seed Grows (HarperTrophy, 1992), or perhaps Sam Godwin's even simpler A Seed in Need (Picture Window, 2004) for a seed-full good time.-Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Teaching children to look at seeds in a new way, this simple introduction to seed dispersal provides poetic descriptions of the process ("Maple seeds whirl and twirl in the breeze"; "Even a raindrop can wash tiny seeds away. Splash! Swish! Splatter! Scatter!"). Cleanly composed, botanically accurate acrylic paintings illustrate the lyrical text. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
An uninspired look at how seeds are spread by wind, water, animal and human agency. Paparone's illustrations range from slavish attachment to the text (seeds and a tiny chopper accompanying a reference to maple seeds flying "like shiny green helicopters," for instance) to generic winter landscapes in which locust-tree pods on the ground are barely visible, and basswood tree fruit not at all. Along with some awkward lines--"The wind lifts them up and off of the tree"--Macken oversimplifies the definition of "seed" to imply that plants cannot propagate any other way, and departs entirely from her topic on one spread to describe how fallen wild oat seeds work their way into the ground. In addition, not all of the plants depicted are identified, it's difficult to distinguish the "touch-me-not" seedpods from the surrounding leaves and flower buds, and the seeds in the closing gallery are not shown to scale. Steer readers instead to clearer treatments, such as John Farndon's Seeds (2006). (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
