Jacob Kramer’s Wandermelon is a playful book about nature, ownership and community that will immediately grab the attention of young readers. Within, a watermelon seed sprouts near Farmer Brown’s ditch and proceeds to grow wild, wandering on and on throughout town, much to the delight of its residents.
Children will enjoy following its meandering, nonstop progress as it grows through various fields, into Ms. Wu’s compost pile, into a classroom and even winding around a water slide. The classroom students become so excited by this surprising intruder that they invent a song to marvel at its growth and voice their desire for “Just one bite-of-one-of / Your sweet watermelons.” Kramer’s lovely prose winds across the page, just as this “wandermelon” wanders up, down and throughout the pages.
Yara Bamieh is a Palestinian children’s illustrator and botanical artist whose colorful, delicate watercolors add the perfect horticultural touch to the pages, showing how the vine grows above ground while rooting beneath the soil. Bamieh gives readers several reminders of the underground action while also vividly featuring the lively townspeople as they interact with the vine and fruit.
In the end, of course, everyone wants a taste of the sweet melon, and the crowd gets rowdy when the waterslide operator tries to charge for a bite. Bitter disputes erupt about who has the claim, but the magical-seeming fruit turns out to have a mind of its own in the book’s highly satisfying conclusion.
Wandermelon is likely to prompt thoughtful discussions of growth, possession and sharing our natural resources. Young readers will enjoy the surprise and adventure of this tale—as they clamor for a bite of watermelon.