Grow by Riz Reyes illustrated by Sara Boccaccini Meadows

"Each chapter of this book celebrates the heroic efforts of a few plants heroes that have sustained our communities and shaped many cultures around the world. ... Hopefully children will uncover their own botanical heroes through reading this book ... "

Mint; Lettuce; Mushrooms; Daffodils; Pineapples; Tomatoes; Apples; Kale; Carrots; Aloe Vera; Tea Plants; Maple; Bamboo; Pumpkins; Orchids.

Though the book is non-fiction, Reyes lets a kind of horticultural narrative play out as we journey through its pages.  We learn about the different plants in history – when and where they originated and how they were used – as well as the various families that each plant belongs to, describing some of the other related plants in each group.  Most importantly of all, we learn how to plant and grow each one – what time of year to plant, how to care for them and how to help them flourish. Reading Time

Here are a few of my discoveries from this book:

• Mint is named after a nymph from Greek mythology - Minthe
• Lettuce is a member of the Asteraceae family - others are chrysanthemum, dandelion, and sunflower.
• Daffodils are used as a symbol for many cancer organisations because they are a sign of hope.
• Pineapples are pollinated in the wild by bats and hummingbirds.
• Botanists consider that the tomato is a berry because it has seeds and pulp and comes from the ovary of a single flower.
• Apple cores were dropped by traders along the Silk Road and so the seeds grew into apple trees.
• Kale is related to kohlrabi, broccoli, and cauliflower.
• Kublai Khan bought carrots to China in the thirteenth century. You need to know I, your blogger at Momotimetoread, does not like carrot cake!
• Maple syrup is made from tree sap and the maple tree is from the same family as the lychdee, horse chestnut, and Indian soapberry.
• All pumpkins are squashes but not all squashes are pumpkins.
• The Phalaenopsis orchid is also known as the moth orchid because a naturalist mistook the flowers for moths in 1750.

Riz Reyes is a hortoculturalist and that knowledge and passion shines through in this book.  Sara Boccaccini Meadows (perfect name to illustrate a book about plants) also has a book about the stars but sadly here in Australia Glow is way too expensive for a school library. It would make a beautiful gift though, as would Grow, for a special child or on a special occasion:

Plantastic! A to Z of Australian plants by Catherine Clowes illustrated by Rachel Gyan

"Australia is an amazing place, with many unique animals and plants. ... Do you know much about Australian native plants? Do you know that there are some Australian native plants that trap and eat insects? And others with seeds that are spread around in poo? ... If you don't know much about Australian native plants, don't worry; once you've read this book, you'll know heaps." (from the introduction to Plantastic). 

My friend Dr Robin Morrow and I are working on a virtual presentation for IBBY Australia which explores Alphbabet books. Plantastic is not really intended to be an alphabet book but it uses the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet as a way to organise the content.

In this book you can read about familiar Australian flowering plants - Acacia, Banksia, Christmas Bush, Gum Tree, Kangaroo Paw, and Tree Fern.  And others that are less familiar (to me) -  Rice Flower, Noon Flower, Yam Daisy, and Ziera.  

It is clear an enormous amount of research has gone into creating the illustrations for Plantastic. You can see inside this book here. 

This book contains accurate botanical and colourful illustrations which delight the reader. The illustrations are consistently positioned on each page with one larger size illustration on the left side and smaller details on the opposite pate to highlight specific traits of each plant such as flowers or fruits. 

The half title page and title page invite the reader to explore the plants contained in this A to Z book. The final end paper gives young readers an excellent visual representation of the scientific names for the parts of plants. Special mention needs to be made of leaves of each plant. These are done both artistically but also with scientific accuracy. The addition of a bee on front and back the covers, on the first pages and again on second last spread gives a sense of completion to the book and also adds a touch of whimsy. The bees work like bookends to the text. 

Catherine Clowes is a botantist and a teacher which means the text in this book is both scientific and easy to read. Here is the web site for the illustrator Rachel Gyan. 

After reading this book with a young child it might be fun to spend time identifying all of the plants on the front cover. And when you go on a bush walk you could snap some photos and then come home and see if the plants in your area are included in Plantastic. 

Plantastic contains extensive back matter - a distribution map, and a detailed glossary. I especially love the botanical illustrations and the activity which is suggested on each page:

Hibiscus "See if you can spot some pollen in a Hibiscus flower. If you touch it you might notice a few pollen grains fall off onto your finger. You could even try transferring some of this pollen from your finger to the pistil of another flower, just like a pollinator!"

Many years ago I had this little book about our Sydney bush in my school library. It could be a good one to compare with Plantastic: