Giant Plants

November 1, 2011

Gr 3-4-These colorful introductions have bright, full-color photographs that are detailed enough to enable identification in the field, especially of such common poisonous plants as poison ivy, oak, and sumac. Giant Plants includes not only the tallest and most massive plants, but also those with giant odors. One of the illustrations for the corpse flower shows kids at a greenhouse holding their noses as they observe the huge flower that smells like rotting meat. In Meat-Eating Plants, some "leafy carnivores" are shown with the legs of hapless insects sticking out of their plant traps. Each book includes a one-page "It's a Fact" section that highlights quick bits of information. For example, "A person who has touched a gympie gympie tree can still feel pain from it up to a year later" personalizes the information about the prickly Australian tree whose poisonous hairlike needles have killed pets and livestock. Useful for reports and fun to browse, read, and learn.-Frances E. Millhouser, formerly at Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA

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