This story is a kind of comforting fable for our time, as climate change begins to stress different types of plants due to higher temperatures and longer periods of drought around the globe. Stress can leave plants vulnerable to disease, while scientists continually race to find cures, especially if the disease involves major food crops.

But this book does not address climate change directly. The story focuses on how disease can wipe out a species and how seeds from that species can be saved to live another day. On a deeper, heart level, the story is also about losing those you love and how you remember them.

Every afternoon, Kari and Cookie 
sat in the shade of the beautiful delicia tree 
listening to Old Otis tell tales 
from way back when.

This opening sets the gentle tone for the book. It feels like a summer day, a time for stories and lounging under trees.

Most of all, Kari loved hearing about summers when
Otis was little, when he would feast on delicia fruit
day after day, juice running down his chin.

Delicia trees everywhere? Kari could hardly imagine it. 

Note the change between these two spreads. In the first spread, Otis and Kari are sitting under a single tree, not the enormous grove that Kari tries to imagine in the second spread. Similar to Dutch Elm Disease, the fictitious delicia tree is succumbing to a disease, a blight that has killed all but this last one.

Kari wants to save seeds to plant more right now, but Otis tells her that scientists need to find a cure for the blight, or the seeds she plants will turn in to saplings that will die of the same disease.

What will Kari do? Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out.

One note about the circle of life. In this spread, Kari is left without the last delicia tree and Otis.

I love how this spread shows Kari holding Old Otis’s hat, and the stump of the last delicia tree where they’d spent so many summers together. It’s a moment of poignant sadness.

But never fear, fulfilling its lovely circular structure, the story continues on to a juicy ending, burgeoning with life that’s both flora and fauna-filled.

The floral color palette of the Illustrations (by Patricia Metola) adds to the feeling that you’re holding a bouquet of flowers and sunshine in your hands while you’re reading.

The author, Laura Gehl, includes a note about seeds banks at public libraries and elsewhere, and about the special Global Seed Bank on an icy island near the North Pole that stores seeds from countries around the world. She also includes information about scientists who work to cure plant diseases, along with finding varieties of food crops (eg. rice) that will thrive in warmer conditions brought about by climate change.

Activities:

Visit your local library to ask about a seed bank. See what kinds of seeds they carry, and whether you can plant some. Remember to replenish the stock at the library with new seeds at the end of the growing season.

Make seed bombs and “plant” them as described here.

Collect seeds from weeds, flowers, trees, etc. How do different kinds of seeds spread themselves in different ways? Are some shaped to float or fly with the wind? Others stick to the fur of animals? Learn about seed dispersal here.

Pair this book with Apple and Magnolia by Laura and Patricia. Find out more about why trees are important from the Nature Conservancy. Have you ever noticed how much cooler it is to stand under a tree on a sunshine-filled day, versus standing in a blacktop parking lot in the sun? Talk about why trees and grass and all forms of plant life help you feel good about your home, your neighborhood, and your city.

Title: Saving Delicia

Author: Laura Gehl

Illustrator: Patricia Metola

Publisher: Flyaway Books, 2024

Ages: Pre-K through elementary

Themes: seeds, circle of life, STEM

For more perfect picture book recommendations, please visit Susanna Hill’s website.