Melissa Stewart
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A Seed Is the Start

A Seed is the Start

by Melis­sa Stewart

Nation­al Geo­graph­ic
Books for Chil­dren, 2018

for ages 6–9

ISBN 978–1‑42632–977‑7

Pur­chase this book at your local inde­pen­dent book­seller or Amazon.com.

Meet seeds that pop, hop, creep, and explode in this lyri­cal intro­duc­tion to plant growth and seed dis­per­sal. Stun­ning pho­tographs and fact-packed text show­case the role of seed fea­tures and func­tions in cre­at­ing a new gen­er­a­tion of plants. Com­plete with an illus­trat­ed glos­sary, resources, and an index, A Seed Is the Start inspires won­der as it encour­ages bud­ding botanists of all ages to look with new eyes at plants and their seeds.

Honors and Awards

  • Coun­cil on Botan­i­cal & Hor­ti­cul­tur­al Libraries Annu­al Lit­er­a­ture Award Nominee
  • CYBILS Ele­men­tary Non­fic­tion Award Nominee
  • Green Earth Book Award Long List
  • Non­fic­tion Detec­tives Best Sci­ence Books of the Year
  • Scholas­tic Book Club Pick

Reviews

“Engag­ing text and crisp nature pho­tog­ra­phy cap­ture the sur­pris­ing­ly dynam­ic jour­ney of seeds as they grow, trav­el, sprout, and trig­ger the cycle anew. Action verbs abound as seeds ‘fly,’ ‘float,’ ‘pop,’ and even ‘ride,’ to name a few … Ample, leg­i­ble type­face, along with arrows and oth­er indi­ca­tors, make for an intu­itive read­ing expe­ri­ence.” (School Library Jour­nal)

“Stew­art offers an invit­ing and visu­al­ly com­pelling intro­duc­tion to an essen­tial con­cept.” (Pub­lish­ers Week­ly)

“A Seed Is the Start is a high­ly rec­om­mend­ed pur­chase for school libraries, class­rooms and pub­lic libraries. It could be read as part of a plant unit in an ele­men­tary class­room and could be used for sci­ence pro­gram­ming and sto­ry time in a pub­lic library. Pub­lish­ers and authors of non­fic­tion should take note of A Seed Is the Start as an exam­ple of excel­lent book design, lay­out, visu­als, and qual­i­ty sci­ence writ­ing aimed at very young read­ers.” (The Non­fic­tion Detec­tives)

“When­ev­er Melis­sa Stew­art sets out to do a bit of sci­ence writ­ing, it’s always inter­est­ing. She reit­er­ates com­mon knowl­edge briefly as a reminder, but always delves deep­er to find the odd and fas­ci­nat­ing details that catch the imag­i­na­tion of kids and adults alike … This book fea­tures excel­lent in-set close-up pho­tos, engag­ing design, and strong font delin­eation between the short­er lilt­ing text at the tops of pages and the more “meaty” text box­es else­where on the pages. Per­fect for any class doing lessons on seeds, plant adap­ta­tions, gar­den­ing, and #out­door­learn­ing.” (Christo­pher Hunt, school librar­i­an, Chill­i­wack, British Columbia)

“Meet seeds that pop, hop, creep, and explode in this vivid­ly illus­trat­ed intro­duc­tion to the sim­plest con­cepts of botany. The sto­ry, which is per­fect for ele­men­tary school Com­mon Core learn­ing, care­ful­ly high­lights the many ways that seeds get from here to there, engag­ing chil­dren’s curios­i­ty with strong action verbs. Stun­ning pho­tographs with fact-packed cap­tions pro­vide sup­port­ing details, explain­ing the role of seed fea­tures and func­tions in cre­at­ing new gen­er­a­tions of plants. Com­plete with an illus­trat­ed glos­sary and back mat­ter fea­tur­ing more resources, this book inspires won­der as it encour­ages bud­ding botanists of all ages to look with new eyes at plants and their seeds. (Read­ing through Life)

“Melis­sa Stew­art shows us once again that she is a mas­ter at craft­ing engag­ing non­fic­tion sure to sus­tain the inter­est of young read­ers and cause them to won­der and explore sub­jects beyond the text. Loved this book.” (Dylan Teut, Instruc­tor of Lit­er­a­cy and Plum Creek Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­cy Fes­ti­val Direc­tor, Con­cor­dia Uni­ver­si­ty, Seward, Nebraska)

Behind the Book

“The idea for this book came from this Pin­ter­est board. I was amazed by the stun­ning close-up pho­tos of seeds and want­ed to know why they have so many unusu­al shapes. After doing some research, I dis­cov­ered that a seed’s shape has a lot to do with how it dis­pers­es. Seeds can be trans­port­ed by wind, water, or hitch­ing a ride on an ani­mal’s fur. Some even hop or creep along the ground.

“I was fas­ci­nat­ed, and I knew kids would be, too. I also knew that this top­ic cried out to be pho­to illus­trat­ed, so I wrote up a pro­pos­al with some sam­ple spreads and sent it to my edi­tor at Nation­al Geo­graph­ic. Since Nation­al Geo­graph­ic is well known for its world renowned pho­to col­lec­tion, I was sure it would be the best pub­lish­er for this book.

“Luck­i­ly, my edi­tor was as excit­ed as I was, and I soon had a contract.

“While I was work­ing on the book, I vis­it­ed Wealthy Ele­men­tary School in East Grand Rapids, MI, and dis­cov­ered the sec­ond graders were study­ing … seeds! Their ideas helped me shape the book into a resource that’s per­fect for ele­men­tary class­rooms. I was so grate­ful for the stu­dents’ help that I ded­i­cat­ed the book to them.”

A Seed is the Start

by Melis­sa Stewart

Nation­al Geo­graph­ic
Books for Chil­dren, 2018

for ages 6–9

ISBN 978–1‑42632–977‑7

Pur­chase this book at your local inde­pen­dent book­seller or Amazon.com.

Book Extensions

TEACHER’S GUIDE
READ ALOUD GUIDE
READER’S THEATER SCRIPT