Day 167: The Carrot Seed

The Carrot Seed is another one of those classic books that I have heard about for a long time, but never managed to actually bring home from the library until recently.  I absolutely love Harold and the Purple Crayon (by Crockett Johnson), and am amazed by its simple brilliance every time I read it.  The Carrot Seed, like Harold, demonstrates the beauty and power of children's literature to tell a great story in very few words.  Everything about The Carrot Seed is simple, from the text to the illustrations, but there is something wonderful about this story of a little boy who plants a carrot seed and patiently waits for it to grow.  Everyone tells him it won't; his mother, his father, his brother.  But every day, the little boy pulls up the weeds around his seed and sprinkles the ground with water.  Nothing comes up.  And nothing comes up.  And people keep telling him his seed will not grow.  But the boy still pulls up the weeds and waters his seed every day.  And then, sure enough, one day... a carrot comes up, "just as the little boy had known it would."  Nothing fancy.  Nothing grand.  But there is something about this book that I adore. Perhaps it is the simple message about the value of persistence and perseverance, or the importance of believing in yourself even when no one else does.  Or perhaps it is the simply the way this story reminds me about the wonderful way in which children view the world differently than adults.  I think the editors put it best on the back cover of the book when they write, "When you are very young, there are some things that you just know..."  The simplicity and repetition of the story makes it a great book for beginning readers, too.  I still love Harold and the Purple Crayon more, but any book that is republished in a special 60th anniversary edition must have staying power for a reason, right?  Short and sweet, The Carrot Seed is worth a read.