Émilie Vast
‘Plantes vagabondes’ translated from French
(Thames & Hudson)
Subtitled “The amazing story of how plants travel”, this visually stunning book from French creator Émilie Vast illustrates seed dispersal and the role of each featured seed plays in its ecosystem. The book showcases 10 different journeys, from ‘flying’, ‘floating’, to ‘being eaten’ and finally ‘helped by humans’. Each journey is narrated by the seed itself, making it particularly engaging. Each section concludes with a page including a labelled spread of other plants which benefit from a similar seed dispersal system.
Using a primarily blank background and a lot of black with dashes of colours, Vast’s art deftly highlights each step of each journey, which is wonderfully accentuated by her use of panels. Her style is deceptively simple, adroitly creating wonderfully well paced narrative non-fiction which will make a lovely storytime read as well as a book children can refer to when on nature walks.
This review is part of the tour highlighting National Non-Fiction November. To find out more information about National Non-Fiction November, including resources and booklists, visit the dedicated page on the Federation of Children’s Book Groups website.
From Tiny Seeds can be purchased from your local bookshop or online from our partner bookshop Storytellers Inc.:
Source: review copy from publisher
