I Am the Seed That Grew the Tree; Fiona Waters, illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon

If we want children to embrace and enjoy poetry then they need to be regularly exposed to it. The best way to do that is for children to have the opportunity to read and get lost in a poem every single day. ‘I am the Seed That Grew the Tree’, getting its name from the first line of a poem by Judith Nicholls, has a poem for every day of the year, including leap years.

The book is a wonderful collection of poems, riddles, rhymes and limericks that celebrate and explore nature, animals, plants, weather and the seasons. If you’re anything like me, there will be some poems that you will recognise and others that you will not. The collection of poems is varied and diverse. There are poems to make you laugh, poems to get your tongue in a twist, poems that make you think, poems to make you question, beautiful poems and more sombre poems. This really is a collection that has something for everyone. Poetry aficionados will be pleased to see poetry from some well-known names including Ted Hughes, Emily Dickinson, Emily Brontë, Margaret Wise Brown, Walter de la Mare, D. H. Lawrence, Christina Rossetti, William Shakespeare and many others.

The book is broken into monthly sections with poems that have been chosen to reflect the month, the season and the time of year. From the beauty found in snowflakes, snow and white fields in January, to the joys of tulips, dandelions, buttercups and caterpillars in May, through to the rain, storms and winds of November. If I had to choose the month that I enjoyed the most then it would have to be August with some of my favourite poems that are all about the seaside. I wonder what your favourite month will be?

The book is exceptionally well-presented, from the thought that has gone into the selection of poems to the layout and the artwork. Each page is an absolute joy to look at. The illustrations are warm and playful and capture nature and wildlife in all their splendidness. Published as a large format coffee-table sized book this book deserves to be on display all year round.

A wonderfully curated and beautifully presented collection of three-hundred-and-sixty-six individual hugs to the natural world. It is a lovely book for adults and children to share together.

Recommended for everybody.