Seed Magic

A gift from the crazy old Birdman shows Rose that even in the barren, gray city, there are ways to make a beautiful garden. Rose and her brothers mock crazy old Birdman, who sits in his wheelchair all day feeding seeds to the pigeons. The birdman says pigeons are beautiful, but Rose dreams of gardens full of red and yellow and blue flowers, like the ones she sees in her library books. One day, Birdman fills Rose's hands with slick, black seeds. He tells her they are magic - if she plants them outside her window they will grow a garden. Her brothers don't believe, but Rose sets the seeds out and waits. Soon, like Birdman promised, a garden appears before her eyes - a musical flurry of red and yellow and blue, drawn to Rose's window by seed magic.

Jane Buchanan holds degrees from Greenfield Community College, Simmons College, and Vermont College. The author of many picture books and novels for children, she lives in western Massachusetts, where she works at her hometown library.

An Atlanta native, Charlotte Riley-Webb earned a BFA from The Cleveland Institute of Art. Her paintings have appeared in more than twenty-five major exhibitions worldwide and are included in numerous private, business, and corporate collections. She has also taught art to adults and children and illustrated several children's books.