Open: Every Seed Has Its Moment

A soil-cozied sprouting seed, one among many underground, receives tender support as it matures in a radiant botanically themed work from Agis, making his picture book debut, and Jacoby (Everything Is Fine!). As the seed slowly sprouts toward the waiting sun, a reassuring voice affirms its presence (“Hello, little one. I see you. And I am happy you are here”). Soft-focused watercolor and pastel artwork begins trained on the soil, then splits visually in a series of cutaways that reveal the growing seed below the soil’s surface, and the actions above, where a team of young stewards, portrayed with various skin tones, attend it. Concise conversational lines unfurl as gently as the little seed, modeling attunement (“Growing is hard,” says the seed. “Is it? Take your time”) and the seed’s realization of its relationship to water (“Mmmm. More”) and the sun (“The sun! The SUN!”). Little by little, the seedling sprouts until it bursts ecstatically into flower and takes its place alongside other flora that have done the same, creating a glowing, blooming meadow—and a joyful crescendo to this comforting and triumphant meditation on the act of becoming. Ages 3–7. (May)