WATCHING...

Suggesting an alternative to the natural pleasures of instant gratification, this understated tale promotes the virtue of waiting to see what happens. One day, a favorite tree offers a flower to the narrator—who is depicted standing on two legs but otherwise resembles a small, generic woodland creature—and a suggestion: “But if you don’t pick it straight away, if you wait, the flower will change into a fruit.” So it does, in time, and in more time it ripens. Again the tree offers a choice: “You can pick it. But if you bury it, it’ll sprout and a new tree will grow.” Again the narrator opts for patience, and after more time, plus a bit of TLC, the world is enriched by a tiny new resident that bows gratefully to its nurturer. Simple watercolors, some as small as fingernails, accompany this import’s legible, hand-lettered text, so it’s best suited for individual reading or sharing one-on-one. Even less reflective children will absorb the indirect environmental message. (Picture book. 6-8)