The Bad Seed

The Bad Seed is a 1954 novel by American writer William March, the last of his major works published before his death. Nominated for the 1955 National Book Award for Fiction, The Bad Seed tells the story of a mother's realization that her young daughter is a murderer. Its enormous critical and commercial success was largely realized after March's death only one month after publication. In 1954, the novel was adapted into a successful and long-running Broadway play by Maxwell Anderson and into an Academy Award-nominated film directed by Mervyn LeRoy in 1956. Synopsis Eight-year-old Rhoda Penmark appears to be what every little girl brought up in a loving home should be. Outwardly, she is charming, polite and intelligent beyond her years. To most adults, she's every parent's dream: obedient, well-groomed, and compliant. She reads books, does her homework, and practices her piano scales, all without being asked by her parents. However, most children keep their distance from her, sensing there is something not quite right about her. This is especially true for the students at Fern Grammar School, her new school in a small town named Benedict.