JUST IN CASE: SAVING SEEDS in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault

CHARLESBRIDGE, 2025

 For more than year, my writing personal projects have included work on two nonfiction texts related to global hunger. It's quite a heavy subject, and finding ways to make it both intelligible and accessible to young readers presents plenty of challenges. Even so, kids are eager to better understand their "up-close" worlds as well as big picture topics. In the case of JUST IN CASE: Saving Seeds in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault I have no doubt that readers of any age will be intrigued and excited at the concept and execution of this global project.

Author Megan Clendenan and illustrator Brittany Cicchese have captured the heart and heftiness of a highly technical and surprisingly simple program that could assure the survival of the human race. This one has stakes!

I was aware of this project, and had even read some science reports about it. Even so, this took me right into the depths of the story, and not simply as a good idea well done. Both the text and sprawling spread of the opening pages deliver readers to the barren snowscape of the near-North Pole. Quickly, though, we learn that this location was not only chosen for its low temperatures to preserve the seed samples, but also to remove the facility from most climate and geologic threats. With images and text, readers travel the globe and across time to note the universal necessity of seeds, and practices for their care and preservation. Occasional sidebars and text inserts build background on the significance and nearly magical power of seeds to assure life on our planet. Pages depicting the decisions involving the design, blasting, building, and operation of the Seed Vault are really intriguing. 

It is made clear that the storehouse of seeds is not only for a potential or eventual apocalypse, but these seed reserves are available for active distribution during more localized destructive events. A full-circle effect is evoked as the closing spreads return readers to view of a child, a garden, and the role we can each play in preserving seeds and growing gardens. As impressive as the Svalbard Seed Vault is, this  account is worthy of attention as a literary success. It works across many ages and curricula links, taking a broad and distant concept onto the picture book page. Young readers are fully centered in the story. It's a terrific nonfiction offering (including back matter with further details and resources) while enticing eyes and minds to connect with their personal roles in nature and science. 

More Terrific CYBILS AWARDS Nominees: Focus On Nature!

Neal Porter Books
Imprint of Holiday House, 2022

I'll admit to jumping the "ready for spring" gun here, but A SEED GROWS hits exactly the right note for me, even while looking out the window at residues of snow on the ground. Written and illustrated by the very talented Antoinette Portis, this is certain to become a classic among picture book collections regarding seeds/plants, at home and in classrooms. Remember, too, that this is a perfect time to plant some seeds in a sunny window and plan on how and where they may eventually make their way outdoors with a head start on other plants and seeds!

Here's what I had to say about it on Goodreads:

"This is a delightful, colorful approach to the basic information about how seeds grow and develop. it is also lyrical and invites audiences to participate and retell the essential information as well as providing appealing passages and lines. 

An asset for direct instruction and also mentor writing for young learners and appealing to any age."

Beaming Books, 2022

Next is a timely title as we hear heartbreaking news of destructive floods and extreme weather in various parts of this country and around the world. THE TREE OF HOPE: The Banyan Tree that Inspired a Community to Stand Tall is written by Anna Orenstein-Cordona and illustrated by Juan Manuel Moreno. This nonfiction account of an ancient banyan  tree on the island of Puerto Rico is based on documented events involving a specific tree and the community who love it. 

The author only provides a slight nod to personification by using the pronouns"he/him/his" in some language referencing this tree. After growing on a public slope for more than one hundred years, the worst hurricane in the island's history, Maria, nearly resulted in its destruction. The decisions and perseverance of community actions that saved it is impressive in its own right, but also provides an analogy for the countless ways in which every aspect of island lives and communities and infrastructure have continued to be rebuilt. Resilience at its best.

This is a gorgeous and uplifting story, specific to an actual, particular tree and community, but also revealing a general approach to nature and the value of preserving and protecting our environment.

Candlewick, 2022

My final featured title in this post is THE POEM FOREST: Poet W. S. Merwin and the Palm Tree Forest He Grew from Scratch, written by Carrie Fountain and illustrated by Chris Turnham. This is a revelation and celebration of a former poet laureate whose respect for nature and humanity resulted in the largest and most diverse palm forest anywhere, and then gave the entire project away for permanent conservancy.

This was a pleasure to read on so many levels. I repeated reading it several times and shared it with others. Merwin is an undeniably gifted poet with adult credentials in that field that are undebatable. Yet I'd dare to suggest that what he accomplished in this decades-long project aimed at the reclamation/restoration/conservation of lands and plant species (especially endangered varieties of palms) is an accomplishment beyond measure. 

The author managed to write prose text with lyrical elements. The comparison of wild spaces being "straightened" out of existence, or damaged into wastelands, makes a potent impact and is figurative language that will resonate with young readers, especially those whose view of the world is a wiggly, winding one.

That's it for this post, but I leave you with some superb choices to explore and, I hope, a persistent itch to make something grow green!