The Bad Seed

This story about a baaaaaaaaaad seed starts out with a humorous description of the bad seed and all the terrible things he does. As the story continues, we learn the reason behind the bad seed’s behavior—he went through a traumatic (yet cleverly-entertaining) experience where he was almost eaten at a baseball game. Then one day, the bad seed decides he wants to be happy. As he tries tries his best to improve, he learns, and teaches readers, that being good doesn’t require perfection, it merely means trying your best. The expressive watercolor illustrations juxtapose bold colors with soft neutrals, adding important details to the already animated diction, like when the seed’s cracks heal once he starts trying to be good. While the book brings many positive messages to the table—such as second chances, the ability to change, judging others, choosing cheeriness, and empathy—the story feels unfinished, anticlimactic, and out of order. The first half of the story is promising, funny, and clever, but the tone completely changes when the seed decides he wants to be happy. The humor is lost, and more importantly, the explanation for the shift to a “good” attitude is missing.