Do you remember how impatient most of us were to "grow up"? This is a lovely story of how one loving father showed his daughter how not to get in a rush. The illustrations are lovely, peaceful looking with an almost golden/sunny feel to them. There are also directions at the end on how to grow/sprout your own avocado.
Ellie's birthday was exciting but she's disappointed to find that her feet still don't touch the floor when seated in the kitchen. When she shares the disappointment with her father, he's wise enough to show, not tell her, how slow growth can be by using something familiar to her. After all, they celebrated her birthday under an avocado tree, so what better thing to use. A simple avocado seed. Initially frustrated at seeing no immediate growth, her father reminds Ellie that the magic within takes time and works best if patiently nurtured. Some cute scenes of her ideas for nurturing it mirror ways parents may nurture and love their own children, a subtle note, but there. We follow Ellie until her feet finally touch the floor and beyond, always with her avocado near. Finally, we see her as an adult with her own family, sharing her father's wisdom with her own child under her now avocado tree. In other words, a sweet story of a father's love and nurturing as passed on to his own child, Ellie, who continues the traditions with her own family under the now tall, strong avocado tree she nurtured.
As always, I more or less went through the story initially simple to enjoy the illustrations. They do an excellent job of telling the story, actually, and a clever reader/child can almost come up with their own story simply by looking at the illustrations. The author illustrated the book herself, btw. As a parent, it's the perfect story to use with a child who despairs of ever growing up. For the child, of course, growing up initially means physically while the father and readers can see how much more is involved and shown through Ellie's life. While there isn't a huge amount of action or, for that matter, obvious humor, perhaps the story is all the stronger for those very reasons. Thank you #NetGalley and #NorthSouthBooks for sharing Ellie's avocado story with me. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am still smiling at the sense of sunshine/gold in the illustrations. This one is for all parents and would make a lovely gift to new parents, I'd think.
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