Incredible Stars of the Plant World -- Book Review

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

We have been experiencing a warm streak in New England and I am thinking spring! When I think of spring, I love to think of the world turning green again which of course means the plants coming back to life. Today I am sharing a book about some of the amazing plants in our world. The book is Incredible Stars of the Plant World by Benjamin Flouw. It is recommended for ages 5 and up.

From the Publisher:

Discover the most unusual and impressive plants on Earth! Towering sequoias, giant Saguaro cacti, prehistoric plants, incredible palms and many more fill the pages of this large format book. The detailed illustrations are accompanied by fascinating facts about each plant.

• Supersized spreads with eye-catching illustrations that capture readers' attention
• Bite-sized descriptions about each plant
• Educational content reviewed by experts

An indispensable resource for any child’s library!

• Great family and classroom read-aloud book 
• Nonfiction books for kids
• Educational books for elementary school students

From Me:

The book begins with a note from Benjamin Flouw. He shares that he hopes to record and share the diversity of the plant world with this book. I think this is a very accurate description of this book. It truly shares the diversity of plants from around the world. The plants shared have something special--its size, its flower, its fruit or how old it is. There are so many different categories in this book as you can see in the Contents above. What a wonderful way for kids to discover the plant world that exists in the world and not just their own yard or neighborhood.

After the Contents there are a double page of "Helpful Words to Know" that include things like bacteria, genus, photosynthesis, and more. It teaches the reader about plants and some of the vocabulary that goes with them and gets them ready for the words they may read in the descriptions of the plants. For each category there is a short description or sentence about the category and then the first plant is shared. The common name as well as the Latin name is given with a description of the plant. There are little asides in a lighter and smaller print as well as an "Incredible!" fact given for each plant. 

The book takes us all over the world and shares plants from trees to underwater algae and kelp. These plants each have a reason to be honored and it is shared in this book. It is perfect for introducing plants and a plant unit at school or to get kids interested in plants. It also might be a fun read while the kids wait for a garden or seed to grow.

To go with this book, I recommend some of our past activities like watching seeds grow, gardening with kids (I have several posts on this but here is one), books and activities about trees, and four seasons of (apple) trees. I hope you will check out this book and some of our activities.