The bad seed

by Jory John

Other authorsPete Oswald (Illustrator.)
Hardcover, 2017

Status

Available

Collection

Publication

New York, NY : Harper, an imrpint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2017]

Description

The bad seed changes his mind about being bad and decides that he wants to be happy.

User reviews

LibraryThing member StephLamb
The Bad Seed by Jory John, illustrated by Pete Oswald and published by HarperCollins.
This seed is a bad seed. A baaaaaad seed! How did he become so bad? It's a sordid tale of a wilting flower, a rake, darkness, and then a baseball game. This seed is so bad he never listens, makes loud noises, and
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stares at others. Will he always be so bad?
The Bad Seed is a perfect story to share with your youngsters to let them know that they don't need to be defined by the actions of their past. Change is possible for everyone who is willing to try. A great book to talk about feelings, self awareness, and manners. The Bad Seed can inspire discussions of best behaviour and how everyone can be a good seed. The illustrations by Pete Oswald are bright and animated and will hook your child right from the first page. This book makes a fabulous read aloud!
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LibraryThing member Jenica_Flores
The Bad Seed I about a sunflower seed that was once spit out because he was a bad seed. Ever since then the seed lived up to his name and started doing bad things. He did these things because he wasn't happy in his life. Then one day he decided to make a change and start being good. He made changes
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and started being happy again. Occasionally he would do a few bad things but he never stopped trying. Other seeds started to notice his positive changes and stopped referring to him as the bad seed.
I would highly recommend this to students in Kindergarten to third grade. This book has a great theme of teaching students to never stop changing in a positive way and to not let what other people say define you.
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LibraryThing member shelf-employed
The Bad Seed was once a happy seed in a lovely sunflower. Could he help it that he was harvested for a bag of sunflower seeds and later spat out under the bleachers at the baseball game? It's no wonder he became bad!

Too often, I hear of "the bad kid" in school or even preschool! Preschool and
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elementary school children are WAY too young to be written off as "bad seeds."

I hope that The Bad Seed will remind us of three important things: not everyone is bad all the time; there is a reason for bad behavior; people can change. As the Bad Seed says,

"And even though I still feel bad, sometimes,
I also feel kind of good.
It's sort of a mix.

All I can do is keep trying."

The illustrations are funny and wonderfully expressive. If you work with children, share The Bad Seed.
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LibraryThing member Stewart24
I read this book to three children and they were all fascinated by it. The idea of "bad" and "good" is universal and ageless and is a focus of minds and hearts from a very young age. This book has a serious message (people are not inherently bad, but can act bad and make bad choices) wrapped up in
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silly cartoon illustrations. From an adult perspective, it takes what would be a very complex emotional and psychological process into a three-part storyline. 1) Being bad 2) the reason why he is bad (unavoidable life circumstances) and 3) the decision to act differently and be "good" (most of the time). This is a book capable of spurring great discussions, between a parent and child, or between classmates and facilitated by a teacher. Young children might not completely get the message without some guidance, so it would be important to elicit understanding to see where the child's comprehension stands.
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LibraryThing member lg503
This is the story of a seed that used to be a happy seed until one day a bad life event makes it mad, and turns to be a bad and every one is afraid of him. However one day he decides to be a good seed, and that positive attitude made it a happy seed.
LibraryThing member airdnaxela
I liked how the book introduces the idea of nature vs nurture, that negative experiences affect people. I think this would be a good book for children because it may reflect some of their own behaviors and make them think about those choices and why they made them.
LibraryThing member caliesunshine
This book is about a seed who has a bad reputation. The seed goes along doing whatever he wants because he knows he is bad. The thing is, the seed had a bad childhood. He was separated from his family and grew up all alone. When the "bad seed" was about to be eaten, he had a new lease on life. He
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was forever changed into a "bad seed". He had no friends and no family. All the bad things the seed had done were eating him up. He wanted to feel good, so he changed his ways. He still had some bad habits, but he was trying his best to be a good friend.
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LibraryThing member SkyD17
This book is about a seed that is BAD. The other seeds talk about him and make him feel bad about his badness. But he was chewed up and spit out by life and that changed him for the worst. Use this for K-4th. Illustrations: mixed media
LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26
The eponymous Bad Seed of this humorous picture-book examination of trauma and its after-effects does lots of terrible things, from cutting in line to refusing to put anything away in its proper place. Perfectly aware that the other seeds don't like him very much, the Bad Seed reveals his history -
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growing up on a sunflower, being torn from his family, and then almost eaten by a giant! Eventually deciding he doesn't want to be bad anymore, he makes efforts to change, ending up (like most of us) a mix of bad and good...

Having enjoyed any number of Jory John's other picture-books, from his Goonight Already! series to Penguin Problems, I have been meaning to pick up The Bad Seed since it came out a few years ago. Although it's taken me a while, I'm glad that I finally got around to it, as I appreciated both the overarching message of the tale - namely, that bad behavior is often the result of bad things having happened to the wrongdoer - and the humor of it. The illustrations by Peter Oswald, whose work I had not encountered before, are quite cute, and accentuate the humor of John's story. Although I didn't find this one laugh-out-loud funny, I did enjoy it enough that I have plans to track down the companion, The Good Egg.
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LibraryThing member melodyreads
Could be a good read aloud ...
LibraryThing member Katherine.Boykins
This sunflower seed is a bad seed. He wasn't always bad. Once he was a good seed, living on a sunflower, until he was harvested for sunflower seeds. Then it all changed. He wasn't the same seed anymore, that is until he decides to be a good seed again. He still has his bad seed moments, but he
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works hard to be a good seed. This book would be a great book to remind students that it is okay to have a bad day, but that we should be conscious of how we treat others. Teachers can use this book to teach students about character development as the bad seed turns his life around.
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LibraryThing member lostinalibrary
A bad seed gleefully tells us how Very Very Bad he is, all the mean things he has done. Then he explains that he wasn't always bad and what changed him, about the loving extended family he once had until the sunflower they called home was harvested and his huge family was scattered to the winds
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literally. He ended up in a bag of sunflower seeds and only survived when the man spit him out. When he landed on the ground, he decided that he was not going to be a good seed anymore. However, telling his story makes him realize that he doesn't like being bad and decides that if he can choose to be bad he can also choose to be good. And he tries very very hard and mostly succeeds so that when he hears someone say 'actually, he's not that bad anymore', he is very very pleased.

Okay, I know this is a children's book but, honestly, I loved it. Like so many people in quarantine right now, I was bored and lonely, missing my family who live away and wanted something to put a smile on my face. I had seen this on plenty of lists so when it came up as a recommendation for me on a bookseller's list - odd it seemed since, despite it being a best seller, I am way outside it's intended audience - I figured the price was right so why not.

And I am so glad I did. It is cute and funny and the illustrations by Pete Oswald perfectly complement the story. This is the kind of book that I have no trouble recommending wholeheartedly for children who I'm sure will love and parents who will likely be expected to read it over and over again. Or for people like me way past the recommended age who are just looking for something to smile about. A good reminder in times like these that one should never judge the actions of others because you may not know what troubles they are facing.
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LibraryThing member MickyFine
This book is about a bad seed. A baaaaaaaaaad seed. He's got a nasty attitude, bad manners, and he does not nice things. How did he get this way? And will he always be baaaaaad?

Cute but also a thoughtful exploration of how bad experiences can lead people to act out in unhealthy ways but that
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recognizing bad behaviours and trying to curb them is possible. I swear the book is way more subtle about that message and is pretty funny and sweet in the process. There's also some great puns hidden in the illustrations that grown-ups reading to littles will appreciate.
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LibraryThing member juniestars
Cute!

Super. It's little story about a sunflower seed. We read it to my niece over Skype and she loves it!
LibraryThing member Whisper1
This funny illustrated book made me laugh right out loud. Creative with silly illustrations that tell the story of a sunflower seed who had a large family. Then, one day all the seeds were scattered, and he became the bad one.

Closing doors on others, never washing his hands, purposely never placing
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things back where they belonged. He cuts in line Every Time.

Purposely late every time, a liar extraordinaire. He purposely is very loud in the library. He is indeed a baaaaaad seed. Until one day, he remembers a large bag. He is swallowed up by a man at a game. He knows he is a goner, until suddenly he is flying through the air landing at the bottom of the bleachers right in the middle of a gooey chunk of gum.

Suddenly, he changed and decided to be a good seed. He opened doors, he listened. And, he smiled.

This is cute, silly and funny. The illustrations are not beautiful, but they tell the story very well.

I think little kids would tremendously like this book.
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LibraryThing member davisfamily
This book made me laugh. The art is fantastic, earth tones and calming.
LibraryThing member The_Hibernator
In this adorable book, a sunflower seed expounds on how baaaaaad he is. My 4yo adores it. He’s always laughing at it.
LibraryThing member SheBayBookNerd
This is one of our favorites. Another great life lesson book that is fun for Dexter to listen to! The Bad Seed has a chip on his shoulder (or cracks in his shell?) but he quickly realizes he can be nice, and it feels good to be so. But also, he understands he's not always considerate, he sometimes
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forgets, and that's okay too, so long as he's working at it. It teaches kids that we're all a work in progress, I love that.
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Awards

Young Hoosier Book Award (Nominee — Picture Book — 2020)
Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — Grades K-3 — 2019)
Red Clover Book Award (Nominee — 2019)
North Carolina Children's Book Award (Nominee — Picture Book — 2019)
Golden Archer Award (Nominee — Primary — 2021)
Black-Eyed Susan Book Award (Nominee — Picture Books — 2019)
Volunteer State Book Award (Nominee — Primary — 2020)
Hampshire Book Awards (Shortlist — 2019)
Sakura Medal (Picture Books — 2019)
Anna Dewdney Read-Together Award (Honor Book — 2023)
Iowa Goldfinch Award (Nominee — 2021)
Redbud Read-Aloud Award (Masterlist — 2019)

Language

Original publication date

2017

Physical description

29 cm

ISBN

006246776X / 9780062467768

Barcode

180
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