Why We Love... The Carrot Seed

In this series, Tickety Books editor Roman Milisic unpacks the secrets of great children's books.

This unassuming little book is secretly so seditious the authors were under FBI surveillance for years. And it’s why modern parents should love it. It’s called The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss. And it came out in 1945. 

The Plot

When a little boy plants a carrot seed, everyone tells him it won’t grow. But the little boy knows that one day a carrot will come up. So he waters his seed, and pulls the weeds, and he waits. Eventually, a carrot comes up. And Oh, boy!

Since kids know that they know some things adults don't, they will think it all incredibly obvious. But it’s inception. This book is a carrot seed– small and unassuming, the more you attend to it, the more it might surprise you

The Pedigree

It’s worth knowing that author Ruth Krauss was a Caldecott awardee who came out of the Bank Street College, that gave birth to Goodnight Moon. And you’ll recognize Crockett Johnson’s deft linework from Harold and the Purple Crayon. The two of them were married and the mentors of Maurice Sendak. So, there’s serious kid book DNA here.

The Visual Level

It reads on multiple levels. On the immediate Visual level, the book feels unassuming. I prefer to think of it as incredibly economical. The text and image, composition and color, all are distilled to their cleanest, simplest forms - Sparse very much on purpose. 

Everything is plain yellow and brown as springtime dirt. After what seems like forever, a pop of green grabs your attention; and you turn the page one last time, and boom!

I love how Johnson renders the little boy with the simplest of lines, yet all of this hope and serenity shine through. His easy stance. His blithe confidence. You can't help but feel his parents imprecations must have been quizzical to him.

The Agricultural Level

You can call this a garden book. It’s perfect for spring reading, and a great way to connect the plant life cycle. Your child can learn about sequencing, prediction, seasons, patience, all the good things about nature.

The Believe in Yourself Level

The next level is the standard message about believing in yourself. This is the message you’ll find in the publishers synopsis: determination, perseverance, the power of positive.

The idea of believing in oneself against the odds is fine. Presumably the boy's parents knew how difficult carrot seeds are to germinate. He doesn't. Young audiences will love that he outsmarted both his parents and older brother, but maybe he was just lucky. 

Unreasonable confidence is actually a developmental stage. Maurice Sendak implies that that’s not just a carrot in the wheelbarrow, rather the sheer balls of little boys, the confidence little kids have in their endeavors.

The Last Level

Then you have the seditious level. This harmless-looking book was published at the end of WW2. Here we have a real boy standing up for what he believes against authority figures, his own mother and father, as well as his older brother. Respectful, polite, but completely stubborn. The implications are obvious.

But consider the carrot seed as the desire to go to college, in a family where that’s not the norm. Consider the carrot as an alternative value system you might subscribe to. Consider the carrot seed as an ambition scoffed at by even those you trust. 

It’s so easy to give up. And yet here is a book that says stand your ground, question authority, kill your idols (with a smile). You can grow up to be a dangerous person defending your carrot.

A Gift

As a parent to say to your child, there will come a time when we tell you no, but you'll know it's right - It's okay, go for it. What a gift that is to give a child.