And Then the Seed Grew

June 3, 2019
Line drawings and quiet colors by Dubuc (Otto and Pio) show this story’s garden setting in cross-section—part aboveground, part below. Mr. Gnome and a small insect-like being named Jack live on the surface, while a mole named Yvonne and her field mouse neighbors live in the soil underneath (Dubuc’s views of their cozy dwellings are one of the story’s draws). An earthworm and an ant colony live underground, too, tunneling to and fro. Trouble begins when a seed bonks Jack on the head, lands on the ground, and begins to grow. Leaves emerge and roots spread, then burst through the ceiling of Yvonne’s bathroom and the mouse family’s burrow, forcing one to abandon her ablutions and the others to move house. “The plant was wreaking havoc all through the garden,” and the ants become exhausted from avoiding roots. Should the group cut its adversary down and restore order? Lowly Jack draws attention to the plant’s gifts—welcome shade and delicious tomatoes—and the community chooses to accommodate it. While it’s a less subtle tale than some of Dubuc’s sprightlier works, it presents in simple language (and a serviceable unattributed translation) a view of the interconnectedness of the natural world, and of cooperation in a peaceful community. Ages 3–7.

July 1, 2019
An uninvited seed falls and roots in a garden, inconveniencing dwellers both above- and underground. Its roots advance, breaking through mole Yvonne's bathroom ceiling, disrupting Susie Field Mouse's birthday party, and complicating the ants' tunneling. After Yvonne's fruitless repairs and the mouse family's second ruined house, the community calls an emergency meeting and decides to cut down the plant. As Mr. Field Mouse prepares to bite the stem, Jack, a green-clad, mouse-sized humanoid, intervenes. "Is this plant so terrible?" After all, it's provided shade for Mr. Gnome's house. Perhaps the mice children could play in its branches, from which the ants could spy new tunnel routes. "And don't forget its fruit!" The interloper, indeed, is a tomato plant: A new plan emerges. Canadian Dubuc's pictures, rendered in flat color and simple line, depict the underground homes as cozy, comfortably furnished rooms. The matter-of-fact text, translated from French, notes that the residents grow appreciative of the tomato plant's "many merits, and were quite content once again." Jack, Mr. Gnome, and the ants are white-faced. Cross-section visuals depict the ants' expanded tunnel network, the tomato's extensive root system, and Yvonne sharing her home with the mice. Small details--a clothesline with Mr. Gnome's polka-dot underwear; items such as a key and a diamond suspended underground--provide additional fun. A whimsical take on a garden's busy, interconnected ecosystem. (Picture book. 3-7)

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