Ten Seeds by Ruth Brown

What do we have here?  A simple counting book? Counting down from ten to one, yes. A book about nature? Yes, and a book that shows the circle of life. BUT this simple board book is SO MUCH more.  I was talking with a colleague about children's book preferences. These seem to have changed in recent years perhaps because of the rise of screens and digital images. It seems to me, though, that we can show kids the most glorious art through picture books and in this way, hopefully, influence their "taste" or develop their "eye" for a beautifully created image.

Ruth Brown is, in my view, a truly fine artist. In Ten Seeds (first published in 2001) the viewer is taken in close to see the seeds in a cross section of soil.  We see the seeds and plants in the same way that the pigeon, mouse, mole, cat, puppy, ball and greenfly see them. The title is presented on a seed packet and the wriggly worms move across each page.

And look at the glorious language your child will hear in this book: shoots, seedlings, small plants, big plants and buds. Here is a video of the whole book. I am also happy to report his book is still available.

Here are some other books by Ruth Brown:

The UK edition of this book is called Ladybird Ladybird

I was pleased to see the cover of the French edition: