A SEED GROWS

Seeds and kids start out small and grow wondrously, which may explain some of children's fascination with planting, growing, and, subsequently, exploring their environments. With sentences that mimic the cumulative pattern of ``The House that Jack Built,'' Hickman's hand-sized book uses the backyard garden to investigate plant life cycles. Each page has a fold-over flap that reveals further facts and illustration details relating to the page's topic. Sam plants his vegetable seeds; behind the flap are close-ups of the sprout's growth underground. When a bee pollinates a flower, an opened flap reveals its hive. The vegetable garden the children plant in the beginning of the book is harvested at its end; each vegetable and fruit is cut open to reveal more seeds—the completion of the cycle. It's been done before in many other books, but this version, with its lush illustrations of a bountiful garden, is a summertime treat. (Picture book. 3-9)