BUD

A leaf experiences its life cycle—from bud to nutrient—in Fleming’s rhyming picture book showcasing imagination and discovery.

A small bud grows on a huge maple tree. It experiences birdsong in the branches and watches life in the yard below. A school-age child named Max, who has fair skin and brown hair, is a central figure in its daily life, and the leaf wonders what life is like inside Max’s house: “Maybe they sleep on a grand golden bed, / with honey filled towers that float overhead,” it muses. As fall comes, the leaf wonders where some of the other leaves have gone. As more and more descend, the leaf knows its time is coming; it’s grateful to be plucked from the tree and pressed against the window, where it finally sees the inside of Max’s house. After some animal encounters and a realization of how large the world is, the leaf is finally buried in soil and snow, where it becomes a nutrient for future flowers. Fleming’s couplets generally scan well, with rhyming phrases that are only occasionally convoluted to attain the rhyme. The vocabulary skews toward independent readers, but lap readers are likely to enjoy poring over Vinokurova’s illustrations, especially the brightly colored image of a human house as seen in the leaf’s imagination.

An engaging meditation on life cycles, with hope for renewal after the fall.