Maine Humanities Council

Winter in Maine fuels a hunger for gardening that becomes nearly all-consuming by March. This can affect children, too, and A Seed is Sleepy—by Diana Hutts Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long—can do much to alleviate it. Long’s pictures of familiar and unusual plants, from the bean to the date palm (an extinct plant brought back to life by a scientist who planted a few seeds found in an excavation) are stunning botanical illustrations and typical of Long’s ability to engage children while delighting the adults doing the reading. The narrative describes how seeds of all different kinds begin their lives: in the safety of fruit, as gynosperms (naked seeds from non-flowering plants), floating on ocean currents, and scattered by wind, animals, and even shoelaces.

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From Dawn to Dusk (Natalie Kinsey-Warnock, illustrated by Mary Azarian) depicts rural Vermont life throughout the seasons with a twist: the storyteller is a girl with four siblings who is trying to convince the boys in the family that it really is good growing up in the Northeast Kingdom. When they challenge her with things that aren’t fun (the freezing toes while sugaring, the tedium of picking stone, the winter that lasts forever), she reminds them of the good things (the warm sugar house and Aunt Eunice’s doughnuts, the killdeer and swallows spotted in the spring fields, and the fun of skiing off a barn roof). Natalie Kinsey-Warnock’s prose is sparse and bears a New England dry wit. Mary Azarian’s illustrations are beautiful and folksy, evoking a strong sense of place with the feeling of each moment and season. With whimsical anecdotes on every page, From Dawn to Dusk shows children how to find fun, excitement, and beauty in everyday life.

(Recommended by Diane Magras)