April 24, 2025 By Maria
When spring comes around, we are drawn to stories about plants, growing, new life, nature, and beauty. These whimsical stories here are some of our favorite growing tales. In fact, my daughter saw the books next to me while I was writing and I had to take a break to read them aloud to her yet again. Actually, my daughter reminds me of a character in one of the books here. I tend to get comfortable in a routine or in a way of doing something and I don’t always want to mix things up or come out of my comfort zone. One thing my daughter does on a regular basis is push me out of my comfort zone. She is way more outgoing and social than I am and regularly depletes my social battery. However, good things and new experiences have come from her urging me to step into new and different experiences. Those experiences are often opportunities for me to grow too.
The Little Green Girl by Lisa Anchin is just as much a story about actual plants growing as it is a story about personal growth, perseverance, and letting go. The little green girl grows from a seed that blows into Mr. Aster’s garden. Mr. Aster has a set routine for his life and care of his garden, but the little green girl teaches him to grow just like his beautiful plants. This book highlights the beauty of travel and going to new places. It also emphasizes the quiet beauty of your own home and routine and all there is to observe, appreciate and love in one place. This book resonates with me as a parent. Kids teach, and sometimes force, you to change your comfortable routine. They show you a different side to the world and take you on an adventure, whether you are a willing participant or not.
Another story about doing things differently is My Garden by Kevin Henkes, the author of Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse. (I also mentioned him in a previous spring post). My Garden is a cute and fanciful story about a little girl imagining her future garden. Flowers will regrow as soon as they are picked and a planted jelly bean will grow a jelly bean bush. Strawberries would glow like lanterns, but carrots would be invisible because she doesn’t like carrots. After all her imagining, before coming inside for the night the little girl hopefully plants a seashell. The tiny clue in the last illustration is one of my kids’ favorite parts.
Tiny seeds and growing things usually make us think of spring. I actually think of Miss Maple’s Seeds by Eliza Wheeler as a fall book, but I decided to write about it here. It fits well with these whimsical stories about gardens and growing and my daughter also likes grouping it with the other stories. Miss Maple is a tiny lady who flies on the back of a bird and gathers all the lost unplanted “orphan seeds” at the end of summer. She keeps them safe and warm over winter and teaches them about the world and growing. She always tells the seeds, “Take care, my little ones, for the world is big and you are small. But never forget . . . Even the grandest of trees once had to grow up from the smallest of seeds.” This is such a needed message for little ones. Especially, the tiniest ones who feel they will never be big enough and never catch up with the other kids. It’s even an important reminder to adults; good things can start small.
Miss Rumphius’ world changing actions start small, with just a pocketful of seeds. Miss Rumphius, the protagonist in the book of the same title by Barbara Cooney, is a lady who traveled the world, learned many things, and finally lived in a house by the sea. When she thought she was too old and broken to do more, she still found a way to fulfill the childhood promise she made to her grandfather, to make the world more beautiful. Miss Rumphius sprinkles lupine seeds all around where she lives – the town, fields, meadows. The next spring there are lupine flowers everywhere and instead of calling her That Crazy Old Lady, the people now call her The Lupine Lady. Every time I read Miss Rumphius it fills me with hope and refreshes in my heart the desire to make the world more beautiful.
Hopefully, spring is a time of renewal for you after winter and dreary days. (If it would only stop raining!) In this time of growth and new life, I hope we all take some time to try something new and take a chance to step out of our comfort zones. I hope we give ourselves time to grow and be nourished just like the flowers and plants. The whimsical tales and beautiful messages of these books always pull on my heart strings. I hope we all find a way to make the world more beautiful and nourished this spring, and always.
More Bookshelves Please 