Sunflower Seeds

A rising first grader has a magnificent sunflower summer in this homespun-feeling story from Heck (Golden Gate). After a teacher reads a book about the yellow blooms, the students are given a chance to plant three seeds of their own (“one for the birds, one for the rain, and one to grow”), and they eagerly watch as green dots burst forth into fast-growing seedlings. When summer arrives, only one of the plants brought home by the narrating protagonist, a pale-skinned child, achieves its full height, but it nevertheless wows. Steadily paced narration that maintains a sense of awe is scientifically detailed and deliberate, and thickly applied oil paint on brown paper gives the yellow-tinged illustrations a diorama-like dimensionality reminiscent of van Gogh’s sunflower paintings. When the bloom yields upwards of a thousand seeds spilled across a spread, the whole cycle seems poised to occur again, and a concluding moment knowingly nods to the power of a good book for kicking off something new. Characters are portrayed with various abilities and skin tones. Ages 4–8. Agent: Jordan Hamessley, JABberwocky Literary. (Aug.)