Plants (Nature All Around)

by Pamela Hickman (Author) Carolyn Gavin (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade
Balancing child-friendly facts with colorful illustrations, this perfect introduction to plants is sure to inspire the budding naturalist in every child. From crowded cities to open prairies, deserts to wetlands, plants grow everywhere! This comprehensive introduction will open children's eyes to the plants that surround them every day and how important they are to life on our planet. It covers the basics of plants, such as their parts, life cycles and growing zones. Then it takes readers on a season-by-season tour of what a plant-watcher can expect to discover throughout the year. There are sections on strange plants and those that are endangered, and how readers can help. And for hands-on experience, there's an interactive Q&A for learning how to identify plants, and an activity for growing your own plants. With the perfect balance of child-friendly facts and colorful illustrations, this book encourages children to actively engage with the natural world. Bestselling and award-winning author Pamela Hickman covers all the essential science about plants --- including photosynthesis and pollination --- in clear and easy-to-digest text. And Carolyn Gavin's colorful illustrations bring it all to life, with accurate and inviting representations of the information. This book has strong curriculum applications for life science and earth science lessons in grades two through five, particularly for the characteristics of living things. Rounding out its usefulness are a full-spread growing zone map, an index and a glossary.
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Hardcover
$19.99

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Kirkus Reviews

The Nature All Around team offers facts about plants: specifically, flowering plants in Canada and the United States.

The text follows the conversational pattern established in earlier series outings and includes quirky, original metaphors, such as “A seed is like a tiny picnic basket full of food that the plant uses when it starts to grow.” The art complements it by avoiding gimmicks and using stylized, but usually appropriately detailed, watercolors to show the science. For example, there’s no cartoonish picnic basket here; instead, watercolor diagrams differentiate the sprouting of a monocot wheat versus a dicot bean seed. The layout offers plenty of variety without overstimulating browsing, but economical captioning demands that readers glean most of the book’s informational content from the text. Some readers may wish for slightly more detail in the illustrations on a spread about identifying plant components by type. The page that gives step-by-step directions for growing microgreens, however, is a perfect example of excellent collaboration among writer, illustrator, and designer, from its italicized definition at the start to a colorful plate of raw veggies scattered with sprouts at the end. The pollination page is likewise a terrific addition to early sex education.

Another charming entry in a delightful natural-science series. (glossary, index) (Informational picture book. 7-10)

Review quotes

An attractive science book.—Booklist
Pamela Hickman
Pamela is an award-winning author of over 35 non-fiction nature books for children, including The Kids Canadian Nature Series, First Look at Nature Series, Animal Senses and Animals Hibernating. She lives in Canning, Nova Scotia.
Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9781771388191
Lexile Measure
960
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Kids Can Press
Publication date
April 20, 2020
Series
Nature All Around
BISAC categories
JNF037020 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Science & Nature | Environmental Conservation & Protection
JNF037030 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Science & Nature | Flowers & Plants
Library of Congress categories
-

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