Flowers

Gr 3-6-- Full of bright, colorful photos and illustrations, this book provides an apt, anecdotal snapshot of the variety and function of flowers. A handbook-sized volume with topical organization, it will entice and invite youngsters to see the beauty around them. Diversity and adaptation are front and center. In the beginning dual-page introduction, readers are told to draw, examine, and dissect flowers to gain a true understanding. Double-page treatments are devoted to discussions of color, pollen, or specific environments, to name a few. This is not a coherent well-developed study of the subject, but rather a progression of little ``tastes'' that presumably will create an appetite for later learning or provide the hook for more real research. It's a browser's feast, with little detail and no depth. The lack of further reading, however, is a major drawback for a book that seems to stake its success on being a vivid signpost at the beginning of the road. --Steve Matthews, Foxcroft School, Middleburg, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Clear photographs of flowers and their environments are laid against a white background in a manner that has come to be associated with this publisher's books. The text covers a great variety of flowers, offers some experiments, and is enticing to browsers. Ind. From HORN BOOK 1992, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.