Josalyn Thomas’ Watch Me Grow

WATCH ME GROW

By Josalyn Thomas

You guessed it – for most school districts in Minnesota, school is starting, and parents have been out securing the necessary school supplies, clothes, etc. for their children to start off the new school year. Though my son is now an adult, I remember those days well.

After attending the Black Children’s Book Fair recently, it drives home the importance of having BIPOC children’s books in our personal libraries to augment what our kids are receiving in school, and I look forward to attending more events like it in the future. That being said, it is my pleasure to present the work of another of the remarkable authors who participated in the Fair, Josalyn Thomas’ Watch Me Grow.

We watch as a seed grows and is nurtured by water, sun, and loving care. It may grow and bloom into a flower or food such as fruits and vegetables. It supports other forms of life, and it completes the life cycle by returning to the earth where it begins again.

Thomas’ book illustrates the cycle of a seed, and at the same time we see the parallel to this cycle as it manifests in our seeds – our children. They are constantly growing and changing into something new, from babies to children to adults. With the love, care, and nurturing of us as parents, they will in turn impact and change the world. In essence, they already are.

When it comes to writing a children’s book, the collaboration between writer and illustrator is crucial, hence I give a hat tip to Lindsey Bailey, whose illustrations captured the story’s vibrance in her work and her intentionality in As an educator, Thomas has sown delightful seeds with Watch Me Grow, which is available through her website www.expandingmindscc.com.

Thank you, Josalyn, for bringing another literary gift to the garden of the minds of Black children. May they grow into something spectacular!