Abrams Appleseed Montessori: Seed Work

My family has been die hard fans of the “Montessori _______ Work” series for more than five years. We have all 5 of the previous books (plus extras copies at Grammy’s house!), and love each one. We even preordered this one as soon as we heard it was coming. So it’s with disappointment that I have to share that this one is very different from the others, and not for the better. The others are crystal clear: they are well organized and beautiful, and as board books we read them to our two kids even in the baby years. While this book is the same size and shape as the others, the similarities end there. The page layouts and text are all over the map. Sometimes, without any indication to open a page downward or open up a (for lack of a better term) centerfold, there are sections that require this, so a young child could easily miss content. The graphics *sometimes* are very careful to align with each other from page to page, and sometimes they jump from high to low. This wouldn’t bother me in another book, but it is not in line with what we’ve come to expect from the other books in the series, which have excellent graphic design. And, I know this is a gardener’s quibble, but oddly, this book shows the sunflower seedling on two pages poking up through snow on the ground. I know it’s a quibble, but that doesn’t happen with sunflowers, which need 70degF to germinate. Again, I would totally dismiss this oversight if the other books in the series were not so well fact-checked! Finally, this book is *way* more wordy than the others, particularly the two page spread on pollination. This is not a book I would read to a baby or toddler.So go off and buy the other books in the series! Buy extras of them for your friends! But I recommend skipping this one.

My kids love this book! We have all of this series and they just love them all!