"The Dandelion Seed" and "The Tiny Seed"

The Dandelion Seed by Joseph Anthony and illustrated by Cris Arbo, and The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle are both circular stories following the development of a seed to flower to seed again. In both stories the seed travels with the wind to find a place to grow. Eric Carle's tiny seed is carried with a group of other seeds which one by one are lost to various hazards. It grows into a flower that is the only one to survive to produce seeds which then float away with the wind just like at the beginning of the story. In The Dandelion Seed, the familiar fluffy seed is the last one to fly away, reluctantly leaving the mother plant. At the end, when it becomes the mother plant, one seed lingers longer than the others before being "brave" enough to blow off into the wind to begin its journey. Both stories are well illustrated with rich colors filling the pages. Their circular nature provides a feeling of balance and closure. Both are concise enough for a good read-aloud for young children, and are realistic enough to encourage interest in the life cycles of plants. These books are good resources for teaching text-to-text connections or story sequence.


Story Props for "The Dandelion Seed" and "The Tiny Seed"