Mara Plants a Seed by Robert Furrow (Author), Donna Jo Napoli (Author), and Melissa Bailey (Illustrator)
This review first appeared on Reader Views . Read the Reader Views version here . Mara is a young girl who lives near an empty lot. Well, it’s not exactly empty–it’s filled with trash. But Mara sees what the lot could be. She patiently picks up all of the trash so that it is ready to transform. She plants fifty sunflower seeds, hopeful that the lot will soon be full of gigantic, happy yellow. At first, the elements blow some seeds away, and the ones deeper in the ground stay seeds, but Mara does not lose hope. She tends to where she planted the seeds and waits. Unbeknownst to Mara, having all the trash picked up makes the lot a welcome place for other visitors–both human and animal. This community of visitors adds key things to the soil to help the sunflower–and other seeds–begin to grow. At first, Mara isn’t sure which of the sprouts could be her sunflowers, but she’s excited either way. As the once trash-filled lot blossoms into a colorful and wonderful garden, will Mara ever see he...
