A rather poor picture book, that I was expecting much more of. When a seed lands in Jack's garden I thought this would be a riff on the Beanstalk tale, but no, it's a tale of a whole load of garden inhabitants, mostly underground ones, taking umbrage at a root growing through their territory. It looks alright, and reads OK too, but anyone who has learnt that, er, life is in three dimensions, will realise this story is actually claptrap. Even with the moral of 'be careful of dismissing things out of hand', for that sin I think one star is your lot.

ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher.

RIP Yvonne's bathroom...

This is a story about community and coming together to tackle a larger problem. All of the ground dwelling animals have their daily lives obstructed by a new plant in the garden. They let their frustrations get the better of them and fail to see the positives of their situation until the very end. This isn't groundbreaking, in fact it feels like I've read this somewhere before, but maybe it is because it has an old fable tone to it. The artwork is fun, with each animal having a bit of an identity (like Paulie, the misanthropic mouse). I found the text to be way too small for certain pages, I hope the publisher fixes that.

This is a really cute story about how a seed growing into a plant effects the animals living both underground and above. This would be perfect for teaching children about the benefits of plants, as well as how seeds grow deep into the ground. The illustrations were adorable and it was just the right length to hold the attention of my preschoolers without overwhelming them or boring them.

I was first exposed to this author/illustrator's work through the charming Otto and Pio. In fact, the two stories are somewhat similar, with something strange that comes into the lives of the characters to change their world. In And Then the Seed Grew, we have a story about a seed that grows and disrupts the lives and homes of the creatures that live above and below the ground.

One day, a seed falls from the sky. Nobody thinks much of it... until it starts to grow. Soon, the roots are interfering with the ants' and worm's tunnels, causing cracks in the mole's bathroom ceiling, and encroaching on the mice's home. The leaves get so big that they block Mr. Gnome's door, preventing him from even getting out of his house! The creatures all come together to devise a plan, and they agree to destroy the plant. But then Jack points out all the wonderful things the plant has to offer, so they leave the plant alone.

There's one major flaw in this: it seems to encourage just giving up when faced with a potential threat. This could've been corrected with a couple of sentences explaining that the plant (it was a tomato), would die off at the end of the season, and things could return to normal. In fact, the plant is missing on the final spread, which takes place the following spring. But how many children know that tomato plants can't survive the winter? I wish this had been addressed. If the plant had been some sort of invasive species, the creatures would have been logical to want it gone before it did any more damage to their homes and lives.

The pictures are cute and appealing, and there's plenty to look at in each illustration (especially under the ground). I don't really have any complaints with the aesthetic.

Overall, I think I enjoyed this about as much as I enjoyed Otto and Pio. With an extra sentence or two to explain that the tomato invasion was temporary (and therefore reasonable to put up with, given the benefits), I think And Then the Seed Grew could've been even better.

What a cute story. The drawings were fun to follow from page to page. I loved how the animals and bugs were so fed up with the plant that they were turning into a mob to cut it down. Once they had a more positive outlook and thought about all of the wonderful benefits of the plant they realized they could not only live with the changes made but they could enjoy it.