One Watermelon Seed by Celia Barker Lottridge Illustrated by Karen Patkau

from goodreads

3.5 stars

After a sugar high weekend my girls have firmly shifted their focus to "the Christmas List". They are dutifully writing or drawing everything that their little hearts desire. I fear there will be some disappointed little kiddies Christmas when they do not have all the twenty billion things on the list. Oh well, thems the brakes.

I have finally sorted out everything that I want to do for the cousins for Christmas. Now I just have to make it. As for my own kids. I don't want to get them anything. Isn't that horrible? I think I have reached my threshold of toys and clothes and craft stuff. I totally get where the Grinch was coming from. It's a good thing my husband is soft-hearted. I'm sure he will get them something lovely.

Synopsis

Max and Josephine plant a garden. They get to see their plants grow and enjoy a bountiful harvest. Plant and count along with them.

My Thoughts

While there is not much of a story this was a neat book. The illustrations are fresh and made me think of spring and summer. The book invites the children to count without it seeming predictable. My kids are already planning what we are going to plant in our garden next year and are asking for the seeds as part of their Christmas list. So, in that regard, this book is great for getting kids to get excited about gardening and producing their own food.

I like how at the end they show the inside of each food. I also like how they have a bit of an eye spy finding game at the end as well. It helps the kids learn more about food as well as the whole ecosystem of a garden.

While reading it there was one thing that super bugged me. Okay, maybe two. It was the harvest yields and timing. The way the book goes they are picking strawberries the same time as pumpkins etc. Fruit and vegetables have different growing seasons here people! Hello! I know the point of the book is to count and to help kids get excited about gardens and it would be hard to talk about different harvest times of the fruits and vegetables. I know it's not the biggest deal. At the same time I don't want my kids to think they are going to get watermelons in October.

The second thing was the yield amounts. Some of them seemed a bit off for the number of seedlings planted. Yes, yes, I know it is a kids book and they are teaching about math and counting. I know. I know. But still. It bothered me.

Now that I have the rants out of me. I still liked this book. I like it mostly for the catalyst it provided for my children's imaginations than for the the story or factual accounts of gardening. So read this book, and dream about next years harvest.