Miss Maple’s Seeds by Eliza Wheeler

This book will sweep you up like a breath of brisk autumn air.  Miss Maple is a little woman who spends her entire summer searching for seeds that have not gotten planted in the spring.  She brings them back to her maple tree and nurses them back to strength.  She washes them off, warns them to take care because they are so small, takes them on field trips to learn about being a seed, and reads them bedtime stories.  In winter they all burrow down together and fill the time with songs and stories.  Then when spring arrives, the seeds learn to dance in the rain and sink into muddy ground.  In May, it is time for the seeds to find the places they will grow, so Miss Maple launches them off.  Miss Maple then starts her journey with the seeds all over again, heading off on the back of a bluebird to find another year’s worth of stranded seeds.  Lovely and warm, this picture book is a joyous celebration of the seasons and the plants around us.

Wheeler has created a tiny motherly figure in Miss Maple, someone who loves and cares just for the good of the earth.  As the book progresses, she becomes almost a Mother Earth figure as her world turns with the seasons.  Wheeler’s writing is filled with wonderful small moments and details.  Miss Maple reads bedtime stories “by firefly light” and during the winter her animal neighbors share “supplies of hot maple syrup, old corn husks, and juicy fruit rinds.” 

Her illustrations show that same attention to detail.  This small world is filled with little touches that make it come alive.  The frogs in the nearby pond have a house in a log complete with front door and paned windows.  The seeds all sleep in small, cozy beds that are perfectly designed for seeds their size.  Then when Miss Maple launches the seeds off, she does it with winged baskets and other vessels that glow and float on the water.  This is a completely formed world that all readers will want to linger in.

Cozy and lovely, this picture book is a celebration of seasons and the earth, but it is also a reflection on the skill and care of nurturing.  Get this one for your Earth Day units and pull it out when covering seasons too.  Though I think it would be best of all curled up under warm blankets and watching autumn arrive.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Nancy Paulsen Books.