Books as wonderful as blooming apple trees

I have been writing this column for a long time now. And I still love doing it! What is more fun than sharing wonderful books with the world? Not much. And this month we have a great stack of wonderful books.

The first is a wordless picture book by Alison Jay, 'Bee & Me” (Candlewick, 2016; $15.99). Wonderfully detailed illustrations tell the story of a bee that flies into the apartment of a young girl. At first the girl is frightened of the bee but soon is giving it sugar water. Eventually (several charming pages later), they become friends. With its diet of sugar water and other sweet treats, the bee grows - big enough to ride a bicycle, bigger than the girl, big enough to give the girl a ride to a meadow. They gather flower seeds and drop them across the city and in a window box in the girl's apartment. Next spring the city is festooned with flowers and the apartment buildings all have rooftop gardens. So satisfying! An author's note lists 'good bee flowers” as well as ways to provide habitat for bees. I can't wait to share this book with a child.

Another delightful book about growing things, 'Anywhere Farm,” (Candlewick, 2017; $16.99) was written by my friend Phyllis Root. In rollicking rhyme the story encourages us all to plant some seeds, grow food and flowers. 'For an anywhere farm, /here's all that you need:/soil and sunshine,/some water, a seed.”

Questions and answers pull us through the story: 'Where can you plant your anywhere farm?” 'What can you plant on your anywhere farm?” The answer: 'Kale in a pail./Corn in a horn./Beets and zucchini/oregano, beans/Jicama, broccoli,/radishes, greens.” 'Who might come to visit your anywhere farm?” And finally the last: 'Where does it all start?/What do you need?/Just one farmer - you - /and one little seed.” This book is a song to planting seeds. Root is quoted, 'Putting seeds in the ground and watching them grow is an act of hope.” Many who read this book will head out to look for seeds and soil.

'Stepping Stones,” written by Margriet Ruurs with artwork by Nizar Ali Badr (Orca Press, 2016; $20.) is a remarkable book that also is about an act of hope. Ali Badr creates art with stones he finds on the beaches of Syria. Ruurs saw examples of his work on Facebook and wanted to write a children's book to go with that art. It took her a while to make contact with this artist, but she did and this is the book that came out of their collaboration. In this story a child tells of a happy life in a small Syrian town: 'Jedo my grandfather, fished./ Papa worked in the fields./ Mama sewed silk scarves for me and my dolls./ Wrapped in silk and hugs,/ I didn't know our lives would soon change/forever.”

As war comes into the village the narrator's parents decide it is time to leave, to join the 'river of strangers” in search of a peaceful place. 'That night I lay in bed and cried/ because I knew I would never again/ hear the crow of the rooster, the creak of the gate,/ the bleat of our goat.” They walk and walk to a boat. After surviving the dangerous boat trip, they walk and walk, eventually to a land where they are welcomed. 'They shared what they had./ Clothes, food - even a new doll.” (Oh, for such a land.) There is something about representing people by combinations of stones that makes them universal. They could stand for any of us, displaced by war, by weather, by misfortune, looking for a place where we can be welcomed, grow some seeds, care for each other, live together under the sun.

Actually, 'Egg” by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow, 2017; $17.99) is a story of living together. It's told in the sparest of terms but is joyous and hopeful. On the first page we see four eggs in four separate squares - a pink egg, a yellow, a blue and a green. Three eggs crack but the green does not. Tiny chicks hatch out of three eggs. Nothing happens with green. The three chicks fly away. But they return to wait for the green egg.

Much waiting and delightful pecking later, an alligator hatches. The chicks fly away. The alligator is left 'alone/sad/lonely/miserable.” In two wordless spreads we see the chicks return and land on the alligator's back for a ride. My words cannot do justice to describing the expression on the alligator's face as it sees the chicks return, or the delighted alligator's smiles as it gives a ride to its new friends.

Look for these books. They are as hopeful as blooming apple trees or a bursting rhubarb patch and will add happiness to any days in any season.

l Jacqueline Briggs Martin writes books for children. Her two newest books are 'Creekfinding” (illustrated by Claudia McGehee) and 'Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix” (illustrated by Man One).