Antoinette Portis has a Fine Arts degree, has worked in design and advertising at Disney, and lives in California. Antoinette made her picture-book debut with 'Not A Box', winner of an ALA Seuss Geisel Honor, a New York Times Ten Best Illustrated Books of the Year and NYT bestseller. She was a recipient of the 2010 Sendak Fellowship. 'Hey! Water' won a Sibert Honor and longlisting for the UKLA 2021 Awards, and 'A New Green Day' was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the year and NCTE Notable Book in Poetry, as well as winning the English Association Picture Book Award (4-7 non fiction), and being nominated for the Carnegie Medal for illustration.
'This book is vibrant, it bursts with life, its text follows a gentle rhythm and all aspects of it will appeal to its young audience.' Armadillo 'The minimal words work beautifully with the bright and bold illustrations, in a style reminiscent of Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar ... A gorgeous book to engage young children's interest in how plants grow.' Juno Magazine 'An exquisite inspiration for EYFS wall displays and cross-curricular literacy and art 'things that grow' topics. There's also an impressive and clever sense of perspective that will intrigue younger readers and the vertically unfolding 'until it forms a bud' page is a delightful twist in this narrative nonfiction tale.' School Reading List 'We love this simple and yet stunning story which follows the life cycle of a sunflower. With its pull-out page and enticing activities at the end this book will have youngsters wide eyed with excitement at every read.' Creative Steps 'A bright and bold work of narrative non-fiction, A Seed Grows follows Hey, Water! and A New Green Day by author-illustrator Antoinette Portis. A consequential look at the life cycle of a sunflower, from seed to shoot to flower, and back to seed again. Features an engaging fold-out page, and plenty of bonus backmatter, including a quiz and further activities involving plants and seeds. The perfect book for any Early Years classroom.' CLPE 'Reminiscent of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, this is a simple - and surprisingly moving - depiction of a seed becoming a sunflower. A lovely book for babies at bedtime.' i-newspaper - 30 best kids books for summer 'Fresh and original approach to exploring the natural world through lyrical words, outstanding artwork, a striking fold-out spread of a full-grown sunflower, and the bonus of additional material at the back of the book explaining the science of plant life cycles...the book is both a beautiful work of art and a source of education, entertainment and discovery.' Lancashire Evening Post