BEANSPROUT

A child learns to overcome disappointment and try again.

Ben’s class is planting mystery seeds. Each student picks one unidentified seed from a grab bag of possibilities, uses observation to hypothesize what it will grow into, then plants it to test their predictions. Ben picks out a seed and names it Bean. Enchanted by the seed, Ben speculates that Bean might be magic and grow to an enormous size. But even though Ben does everything right, Bean never grows at all. As the other students’ plants sprout, Ben navigates feelings of jealousy, blame, and sadness. Classroom teacher Ms. Greene reassures Ben, “Sometimes things don’t grow, and we don’t know the reason why.” Determined never to grow anything again, Ben has a change of heart upon spotting the bag of leftover mystery seeds. To save them from being thrown away, Ben relies on the scientific method and the support of classmates to grow a new garden in Bean’s honor. The illustrations feature cutout characters pasted onto abstract watercolor backgrounds, their colors shifting to reflect the mood. The narrative arc and STEM concepts are integrated effectively, with scientific thinking and problem-solving helping to propel the story. Backmatter provides more information about how seeds grow. Ben and Ms. Greene are brown-skinned; the class is diverse.

This layered story plants seeds of learning about nature, the scientific method, and emotional resilience.