Seed, Soil, Sun: Earth's Recipe for Food

by Cris Peterson, David R. Lundquist (Photographer)

Seed, Soil, Sun. With these simple ingredients, nature creates our food. Once again, noted author Cris Peterson brings both wonder and clarity to the subject of agriculture, celebrating the cycle of growth, harvest, and renewal. Using the corn plant as an example, she takes the reader through the story of germination and growth of a tiny corn seed into a giant plant reaching high into the air, with roots extending over six feet into the ground. This American Farm Bureau Foundation's Agriculture Book of the Year also discusses the make-up of soil and the amazing creatures who live there—from microscopic one-celled bacteria to moles, amoebas, and earthworms. David Lundquist's stunning photographs bring an immediacy and vibrancy to the seemingly miraculous process.

Genres: Picture Books, Nonfiction, Science, Gardening, Childrens, Plants, Nature

32 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2010

About the author

Cris Peterson is the author of ten books for children, including Century Farm: One Hundred Years on a Family Farm; Horsepower: The Wonder of Draft Horses; and Harvest Year. She has been honored by dairy and agricultural organizations across the country, both for her writing for children and her contribution to a clearer understanding of farming in the United States.

Reviews

[ghostly!]

Read it for the johnson boys

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an informative book about edible plants and how they grow, told at a very basic level. It was detailed just enough to provide room for more discussion and exploration on the subject. "Really? You mean there are more tiny bacteria in a handful of soil than there are people on the earth? Wow! Cool! A thousand will fit on this picture of a head of a pin? Cool!" The author did a great job at keeping the text engaging while being informative. Excellent pictures.

[Sunday · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young readers will find this close up look at the key ingredients for growing food very engaging. Beautiful full-page photos worthy of discussion include children holding seeds and seedlings and handfuls of soil and earthworms. The text is accessible and interesting, creating vivid mental images of the role sun, water, and air in a plant’s cycle of growth. Of particular interest are the millions of tiny, even microscopic, organisms – amoebas and mites to name a few – that are essential to healthy soil. In one handful of soil, there are more of these creatures than all of the human beings on Earth. A great introduction to many science units, this book could easily be read aloud and then placed in the hands of young readers for perusing or rereading.

Review I wrote for IRA Reading Today, May 2011

[Marguarite Markley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book! The photography is beautiful and enhances the simplistic text describing how earth turns a seed into food for humans. This would be a great title for sharing with a group of children who are learning about the food cycle or photosynthesis.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great photos accompany this text describing the three essentials that are needed to produce the food we eat. Having deep ties to food production in the agricultural community this title does explain the basic process of food production. I see this title as one of value for those in suburban and urban areas who may not have thought about the beginning of how food comes to their grocery store shelves. Perhaps this title will inspire some children to want to plant some seeds for a garden.
Copyright 2010.

[Arminzerella · Rating 4 out of 5]

This picture book offers a nice introduction to the life cycle of plants – what they require to grow (water, sunlight, soil, and carbon dioxide), what foods they produce, what we’re eating when we eat certain plants, and how other creatures use them to produce things that we eat or drink. Curious kids will want to learn more about plants, their seeds, and the food we eat.

[Margaret Boling · Rating 3 out of 5]

12/11/2022 ~ Beautiful photographs. I'd love to see this re-released with a wider range of ethnicities on different farms. The portrayal of crops through the growing season is clearly laid out for young readers/listeners.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really nice book to explain how plants grow! i used this book in a unit about the sun, but it would work well in a unit on plants, too.

[Maurice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well done. Straightforward, nothing fancy. Great information and great pictures of content with children included.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audience: The audience for this book is primary elementary school. Because of the amazing, real-life pictures and detailed information I feel it would best fit 1st and 2nd graders.

Appeal: I think this book would appeal to 1st and 2nd graders. Although some pages contain a great deal of information, there are also plenty of pictures to help illustrate the meaning of the words. I feel that 1st and 2nd graders will be excited to learn how fruits and vegetables grow, which is the basis of the book.

Application: I would use this book in a science lesson to help demonstrate how plants grow. The book could be a great resource to help entice children to grow fruits and vegetables at home. I would also use this book to help promote healthy eating. With the growing number of obese children, I feel it is important for children to learn where there food is coming from, as well as how to grow healthy foods.

Peterson, C. (2010). Seed, soil, sun: earth's recipe for food. Honesdale: Boyds Mills Press, Inc.

[Christina Koester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seed, Soil, Sun: Earth's Recipe for Food by Cris Peterson is in the genre of nonfiction and has an award of America Farm Bureau and the age group would be four to seven years old. Seed, Soil, Sun was about how everything we grow and eat all starts out from a tiny seed. The reason I rated the book the way I did was because I felt it was a very interesting book to read and to see the different things grow from just a seed. There were really no characters presented in the book, but I would then say the things begin grown could be a character. The illustrations in the book, looked so real. Each different illustration inside the book, had looked exactly like the real object in person. The colors in the book were very were very colorful. In the book, when it had showed the different fruits and vegetables; such as corn it had been yellow, like it would be outside of the book. I would say that this book would be appealing to young readers because they would want to know how anything grows,, so why not start with how different fruits and vegetables grow.
April 21, 2016

[Sae Heo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The "SEED, SOIL, SUN" is great book for children in science. If children read this book, they would learn many things through this book. Plants have the life cycle of a seed which are few seeds, a little soil, a ray of sunshine, a splash of rain, a breath of air in life cycle. The beginning of a new plant is curled up inside each seed. Soil is another ingredient needed to make food. The way plants turn sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into sugar is called photosynthesis. It helps children understand plant life cycle through this book.

Extension: Teacher make a small green house for green bean and sunflower. Teacher take a photo during one month. Therefore children can see real part of plants which are root, stem, leaf, flower through the green house. Also, children can see process of plant through pictures. Children make their own charts of the life cycle of a seed; seed, soil, sun, rain, become a flower.

[Judy Desetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could be used K-3

Beautiful! I really liked this book. It gives a wonderful interpretation of how things grow from seeds and give life to our planet. This would pair nicely with the title Living sunlight : how plants bring the earth to lifeLiving Sunlight: How Plants Bring The Earth To Life.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seed, Soil, Sun is on the nominee list for the 2012-13 South Carolina Picture Book Award. It is a good nonfiction book that teaches young readers about the processes plants go through to make food. Some words--like photosynthesis--may be difficult for young readers, but, if this book is used as part of a larger lesson on plants, food, and how things grow, students will have no problems understanding the "bigger" words.

The photos that illustrate each concept are engaging, and my students will have no problem relating to them. (My school is in a rural area, and many of my students live on farms. One of our school's sponsors is the dairy a couple of miles down the road.)

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seed, Soil, Sun: Earth's Recipe for Food is a nonfiction book about agriculture. This book explores the essentials to plant life. With real photographs embedded throughout the book kids can really relate to what they see and are learning more about. This is a great book to incorporate into a plant unit or a lifecycle unit. Seed, Soil, Sun can be paired with other agriculture books or lifecycle books.

[CanadianReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the photography is certainly beautiful, the text has many complex, technical words, many lo-o-o-ng sentences (some as many as 30 words) and explanations are lacking. This would work far better as a read-aloud than as a text for independent reading. It could also work as a model of descriptive expository writing. There are no reader tools, such as a table of contents, glossary, or index--so it's not a great learning tool, nor a great piece for guided reading. Not recommended.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple introduction to growing food, written by a real farmer. Color photographs and a list of sources and further readings round out this clear description of "Earth's recipe for food." Grades 1-3.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information on growing cycle. Great photographs.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may have given it five stars if it included a glossary and an index.

[Nancy Jo Lambert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will review this one on my blog. A Great nonfiction book!

[Kathleen Burket · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book explaining the processes that create the food that we eat. Should be a part of every family's home library.

[Kay]

A great book about the seeds that are planted, grown and harvested as the healthy food on our plates

[Tye · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book to introduce kids to where there food comes from and agriculture.
I liked the pictures also.

[Alexis Demaria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was a great way to explain the growth of plants and farming. But I also found it sort of boring.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful photographs and lots of great information, but some of the language is pretty advanced. I'm not sure what the appropriate age level is for this one.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

06/11: I did not know that "more corn seeds re planted each year in the United States than any other kind of seed." It feels like that in Central Illinois, but did not know that to be a fact.

[CFAITC]

Seed, soil, and sun are three ingredients for growing food.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome photographs with simple accompanying text. I must investigate other works by this author.

[Mommywest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great way to help children understand "earth's recipe for food."