ALA Booklist (Fri Sep 16 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

Using minimal text and simple, stylized illustrations, Portis (Hey, Water, 2019) details the life cycle of a sunflower from sprouting and growth to blooming and seed formation to seed dispersal and the sprouting of the next generation. "A seed falls / and settles into the soil / and the sun shines / and the rain comes down / and the seed sprouts." The often-­lyrical text (actually one long sentence) makes use of large fonts to emphasize key terms: seed, soil, sun, rain, sprouts, and so on. One spread includes a vertical gatefold that shows a mature sunflower atop this very tall plant. Bright colors appear throughout particular, blue skies, green leaves, and the striking yellow bloom. Minimalist backgrounds help to focus reader attention on the plant itself, and several small blue birds appear periodically, aiding in seed dispersal and adding interest to these attractive illustrations. Back matter includes additional sunflower facts, a life-cycle chart, and further resources. An appealing addition to the STEM shelf and a useful supplement to primary science lessons.

Horn Book (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

With her latest science-focused picture book, Portis (Hey, Water!, rev. 3/19) continues to introduce very young readers and listeners to the wonders of nature. Here she details the life cycle of a sunflower in ten sequential steps. Each left-hand page features a single phrase ("a seed falls" / "and settles in the soil"), with the facing page showing a bright, uncluttered illustration mirroring the action. The story's climax -- the blossoming of a flower -- is shown in a gorgeous vertical spread that lifts up to announce this glorious event. The patterned text creates an internal rhythm pleasant to hear, while the single phrases on each line help emergent readers focus on both the flow and meaning of the words. Key words (seed, soil, sun, rain) are color coded to the accompanying illustration, thus reinforcing the use of context clues. The narrative concludes with birds dispersing the seeds from our flower and beginning the process anew. Back matter consists of a pictorial life cycle of the sunflower, truncating the steps from the text to present a helpful visual capture of the book's information. An accompanying diagram of the parts of a sunflower may require adult guidance, as may two charts: one showing the parts of a seed and the other listing what seeds need to sprout. A bibliography completes the book. Clear, engaging, beautiful, and perfectly pitched to its young audience -- simply brilliant. Betty Carter

Kirkus Reviews

A piecemeal overview of the life cycle of a plant.Using her signature minimalist prose and stripped-down art, Portis follows the journey of a sunflower seed from the moment it "settles into the soil" to its emergence as a blossom that eventually parents new sunflower plants. The entire text consists of one long sentence, broken up into fragments across the book's spreads. Except for a few well-chosen double-page illustrations, the full-color artwork appears on the recto pages while the text appears on the verso pages. Readers watch as sunshine and rain help the seed grow into a bud and then a tall flower whose grandeur and height are accentuated by a switch from a horizontal page layout to a vertical one. The flower produces seeds, which are dispersed by birds after they feed, beginning the process of new plant growth all over again. The book offers a close-up look at plant reproduction using simple, accessible language that preschoolers can understand. Youngsters will feel a sense of awe as they witness the magic of a seed's first tender shoot and the symbiosis of nature. The backmatter uses spot art to highlight the parts of a sunflower seed and plant and four things that "the seed needs to sprout"; it also includes a diagram of the sunflower's life cycle.An understated, useful primer on one of nature's miraculous cycles. (Informational picture book. 3-6)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Employing spare language and sunny, stippled multimedia spreads that belie their quiet complexity, Portis gracefully traces a sunflower-s cycle from seed to sprout to plant-and back again. On each page, a term on the verso corresponds in hue with an image on the recto, focusing the reader-s attention on a single visual component. The word seed, for example, written in black, attends the arrival of a striped black sunflower shell at right (-A seed falls-). A page turn later, a brown-hued soil faces its referent, in which the seed nestles. And the font size of a bright green grows enlarges over several spreads as the seedling does the same. But the pages offer much more than an experiential play-by-play for youngest readers. In addition to incorporating mention of the seedling-s early needs (soil, sun, rain) and maturation phases (bud, flower, seed), text and image hint at the plant-s external effects (for those who -nest in the leaves// in the tops of trees-)-and, poignantly, its place as participant in the natural world. It-s a volume almost as jam-packed as a seed itself. Contextualizing back matter concludes. Ages 3-6. (June)