Three Lost Seeds

To author Stephie Morton, nature's powerful forces are a metaphor for the hardships faced by displaced children. Kids, like seeds, thrive when given a chance.

Each of the three seeds in this story―a cherry seed in the Middle East, an acacia seed in Australia, and a lotus seed in Asia―survives a difficult journey through flood, fire, or drought, then sprouts (in the case of the lotus seed, a hundred years later) and flourishes.

Stephie's verses and Nicole Wong's art make a picture book to treasure.

A STEM story of nature’s resilience.

Rhyming text follows, in turn, three seeds that each overcome natural barriers and disasters to eventually thrive and grow into the “plant it was planning to be.” A bird takes a cherry, then drops it into a stream, but the little pit ends up taking root in muddy soil by the stream, and it grows into a tree. Wong adds visual interest to her scientifically accurate illustrations of flora by depicting, here, a Muslim family unmentioned by text with two children and a mother wearing hijab, first picnicking by the stream and then later (the children now bigger) picking cherries from the tree. In the next part of the book, a forest fire brings destruction, but it also unearths an acacia seed brought deep underground by ants. This little seed then grows as part of reforestation. The third seed drifts in a pod until an earthquake drains the lake in which it floated. Wong’s art shows a child who appears Asian gazing at it upon cracked, barren ground. A page turn delivers a dramatic fast-forward: “When rain filled the crater / ONE HUNDRED YEARS later, / the lotus seed drank up and GREW!”

Strong backmatter provides more information about seeds and seed banks, bolstering an already excellent offering. Seed shelves with this title to grow STEM readers.