The Marvelous Mustard Seed

Title: The Marvelous Mustard Seed
Author: Amy-Jill Levine and Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
Major Themes: Bible Stories, Plants
Synopsis: A parable of Jesus is retold for little children, accompanied by beautiful pictures.

My little people love The Marvelous Mustard Seed! I read it to them one evening, and when I was working on writing reviews of several books I had read to them at the same time, my 6-year-old asked me to write about the mustard seed book, too. When I told him, the next day, that I was ready to write about it, he said, “Yahoo!” He was thrilled to get to look at the pictures again, and the 3-year-old wanted to hear the story again, too.

Obviously, this story is based on Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed. The pictures in this beautiful picture book help to bring that story to life for young children. At the beginning, two children plant a tiny seed. They can’t see the seed after that, but, with the help of sun and rain, it begins to grow and soon everyone can see the tiny shoot. More time passes, and eventually the tiny shoot grows into a big tree that everyone marvels at. Then, the authors compare this tree to the Kingdom of God, showing how tiny beginnings grow into great things with God’s help.

There are some nice touches in the pictures. I like the pages at the beginning that show what is happening underground. Another two-page spread shows all the things you can’t do with a mustard seed; the only thing you can do with it is plant it! Overall, this is a very simple, but vivid retelling of Jesus’s parable. I like it, and obviously my little people do, too.

I received a free ecopy of this book from NetGalley, and chose to share my honest opinion.

No warnings!