"Sunflowers are blooming up and down Pudding Street..."

Sunflowers are blooming up and down Pudding Street, but who planted them? Although the first-person text proposes various community members, such as the farmer, the grocer, the baker, the paperboy, and the florists, it does not spell out the answer. But much of the story is told in the illustrations, and somewhere in each scene children can observe the actions of a white dog and a black bird that occasionally pecks sunflower seeds from flower heads and seed bags. The rich, warm artwork shows enormous vitality in its stylized characterizations and pleasing compositions. The answer to the story’s mystery may be too subtle for younger children, but as the introductory author’s note points out, people are not the only planters of seeds. A fine companion to nonfiction picture books on seed dispersal, such as Flip, Float, Fly: Seeds on the Move (2008).