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 her sunflowers?
Mara Plants a Seed is such a wonderful, lovely, and beautiful picture book to read. Authors Robert Furrow and Donna Jo Napoli crafted an easy-to-read story that is full of rich words that immediately evoke a sensory experience. The garden was not just passive; it “rustled and buzzed,” it had “sweet scents,” and there were “so many shades of green!” The joy that the outdoors and dazzling blooms can bring to people–young and old–is so vividly expressed through Furrow and Napoli’s words.
Of course, what greatly enhances those words are illustrator Melissa Bailey’s vignettes. Bailey’s use of color–increasing the number and richness of colors as the garden grows- shows how this once gray, trash-ridden lot progresses. Not all at once, but slowly–into a lush, flourishing garden. In particular, the focus on the color yellow on Mara visually ties her to the sunflowers she keeps hoping to sprout. The endpapers also being a bright yellow automatically primes readers to seek out that happy color–just like Mara. While I don’t want to spoil the surprise, I will say that–at a moment of discovery–the format of the book changes, amplifying that moment of wonder and joy.
Overall, the themes of Mara Plants a Seed are important ones for both those listening to the story and for those reading it aloud. One of those is clearly patience. Mara is diligent in her work, and while she worries at times, she never loses hope. Instead, Mara keeps at what she knows could help her beloved sunflowers bloom and waits. I believe this theme of patience ties directly into the theme of how being outdoors is beneficial for kids and adults. Mara does not clean up the lot so that a structure can be built–she does it so she can see her favorite color in the natural world. Mara could have simply painted the lot yellow, but no, she wants to enjoy the outdoors–as do other members of her community. One of the last images of Mara Plants a Seed is her, an older woman, and three other children relishing in the beautiful outdoor space.
The next clear theme–to me at least–is how communities contribute to change together (even if they don’t know it). Yes, many of the visitors who help the garden are animals, but there are people too. The people’s actions were not intentionally done to help the garden, but they did. In the end, the whole community gets to enjoy this outdoor space they contributed to.
The interconnectivity of humans, animals, and plants is quite clear. Mara and others in her community certainly help the garden, but so do a skunk, an apple core, a dog, an old bone, birds, worms, snails, rabbits, coneflower seeds, ants, violet seeds, watermelon seeds, mice, bats, bees, and butterflies. If that long list does not make it clear enough, the wealth of creatures and plants that add to the garden is deep. Together with the human visitors, the animal and plant visitors cultivate a space they all can enjoy. Showing how everything around us is a part of the spaces we enjoy directly shows how we are not set apart from the natural world, but deeply interwoven into it.
Mara Plants a Seed by Robert Furrow and Donna Jo Napoli is a lovely and poignant picture book. While intended for a younger audience, the themes are relevant to any reader.
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