Deepest Regards! Rooting for You by Susan Hood

It's spring at last, and that means it's time to put out down under. Enough of this dozing in the deep, dark underneath.

At least, that's what everyone is telling a little green seed who, thus far, seems to be resting peacefully down there in the soil. Who knows what's lurking up there? Things that want to eat you, probably.

I'M NOT COMING OUT!

The little green seed knows that there hard knocks and challenges to putting down roots and putting up shoots. But everybody seems to expect it of him. And... it is a little, um, dull down there in the dark.

Okay. He tries a little root sprouting. So far so good.  Now for a green shoot out of the top of his head. (Whoa! That feels kinda weird!)  And then...

"YOUCH!"

He bonks his sprout on a big rock buried just above. That smarts! Suddenly a friendly earthworm pushes through and offers to be the little seed's life coach! "Hey, Buddy! I'll help you find your way!"

There are beetles and ants in tunnels down in the dirt, but they are actually pretty friendly. But what's that thing? Nobody said there'd be spiders under the ground! Suddenly the little seed sprout feels the need to move on--fast!

But... what might be lurking up there in the sunshine?

But all his new-found friends are rooting for him, and what else can he do but GROW!

"KEEP GOING, KEEP GROWING!" his booster club cries.

In for a penny, in for a pound, the little sprout thinks! Push harder!  And then, there's that final breakthrough!

"I DID IT!"

It's not easy getting to green, but once he's up in the atmosphere, up where the air is clear, there's so much to see and so much to do that the little sprout hardly notice that he's got it made in the shade.

He has BLOOMED!

Susan Hood's little seed story, Rooting for You (Hyperion Books, 2014), makes light of getting into the light, something every good little seed has to do, pointing out that all the world is truly rooting for seeds to make it into the limelight, As the little flower opens, butterflies and bees are there to meet and greet and all is sunny indeed. To underline its uplifting premise, the book is designed with an impressive vertical gatefold which shows the finished plant, above and below, from root to stamen. Matthew Cordell's faux naif illustrations, done in matte color and delicate black-line drawings, take a light-hearted look at the life cycle, with childlike drawings that make light of life changes while teaching a little lesson on plant life and just plain life itself. Bloomin' good!