The Seedling That Didn't Want to Grow

This story about a reluctant seedling packs a powerful message about the benefits of being different.

It's early spring and below the earth's surface seeds are just starting to sprout. One by one they stretch through the dirt and towards the sun, extending their shoots and leaves and growing tall. All except for one seedling, who isn't quite ready. Each page of this gentle but powerfully evocative book demonstrates how some of us are different. As most of the seeds transform into strong flowers, they block out the sun from the one left behind. But the little seedling persists, twisting and turning until, with the help of bird and insect friends, it finds its own place to grow and blossom. In the end, this little seed turns into a flower that's just as beautiful and healthy as all the others. Hailed by Publishers Weekly as "delicate, complex, extravagant, beautiful and strong," Teckentrup's inviting and softly colored illustrations provide the perfect backdrop for this moving tale about being unique while subtly teaching kids about the life cycle of plants.

BRITTA TECKENTRUP has written and illustrated more than seventy children's books, which have been published in more than twenty countries. Her books include The Egg, Birds and Their Feathers, Oskar and Mo, and Before I Wake Up (all by Prestel). She lives in Berlin, Germany.