Saving Delicia

This is an utterly delightful story of friendship across generations, the power of small actions and the need for environmental preservation. Kari loves sitting under the last delicia tree left with Old Otis, eating its sweet fruit and listening to his childhood stories where delicia trees abound. When Otis tells her about blight, a disease that destroyed all but one of the last delicia trees, she takes action. Together with friends, she collects and properly stores all kinds of seeds to preserve them for the future when blight was no longer a threat and they could safely be planted. While Otis might not have seen the regrowth of the delicia trees, Kari ultimately carryies on his tradition of sitting under them with local children to keep his story alive. This is a beautifully charming picture book filled with bright illustrations and childlike wonder. Combined with the author’s note at the end of the book introducing readers to The Global Seed Project, this book will not only delight readers, but inform them as well. This is the same author-illustrator duo for another one of my favorite books: Apple & Magnolia and I cannot wait for my hardcover to arrive so I can add it to my collection. Simply beautiful.