Lola, the polar bear, longs for adventure. She has heard stories from her Grandpa Reggie about the exotic flowers of the world that he found on his adventures as a plant hunter. He tells Lola about one very special plant that he longed to find. The elusive 'Singing Orchid'. It is only found deep in the Amazon jungle. This is the perfect adventure for young Lola. She has inherited her grandfather's passion for adventure. Packing is a fun challenge, though. Her trusty friend, a white hare called O'Hare, tries to help. She certainly does not need to pack ice cubes!
After her long journey to the bottom of the world, Lola reaches the Amazon. She makes botanical drawings of all the wondrous plants but none of them can sing. She continues her search and keeps careful notes in her diary but one morning a monkey yells out a warning - a huge storm is coming. The group of animals are washed away and find themselves washed up against a huge tree. The storm dies down and Lola hears a magical sound. With the help of her new friends, she climbs up into the branches of the tree:
"... there they were! Dozens of Singing Orchids. Lola couldn't believe her eyes or her ears. They were so beautiful. And they really were singing."
The next page, though, is the best one in this book because it gives the reader a profile of three real life plant explorers - women of past centuries - Jeanne Baret (1740-1807); Ynes Mexia (1870-1938); and Marianne North (1830-1890).
Here is a painting by Marianne North:
Yes this is a book for a younger reader aged 4+ but it also a book an older reader will enjoy. It certainly made me curious to discover more about these famous plant explorers.
Sharon Rentta has several books in her series Animal but I think The Plant Hunter is the only title with this additional information.
2 comments:
Unfortunately, I tried to look up this singing orchid as my daughter got excited hearing it was real but it appears this was actually an April Fool's joke by Cool Earth (as stated at the bottom of their article).
Disappointing this wasn't fact checked before claiming it was real in the book.
I am SO sorry you were disappointed, and I apologize for not noticing the note about the joke. It would be fun if these were real. I will amend my blog post and once again sorry for any distress.
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