Plants Need Sunlight

November 1, 2014

Gr 2-4-Like their predecessors, these revised versions of titles originally published in 2008 offer basic introductions to plant types, parts, and uses with interspersed suggestions for activities designed to sharpen powers of observation and comparison. Some issues with the earlier volumes have been addressed; helpful labels have been added to selected photos in each, and specific terms like stomata and pistil are introduced and clearly explained. Still, readers may be confused to find cuttings listed among the otherwise natural ways that plants propagate, and differences between the spruce and cedar needles are described in Trees but not depicted. More problematically, the necessary cautionary note in Plants That Heal appears at the end rather than the beginning, and (poisonous!) rhubarb leaves are recommended as edible in Plants We Eat. Until, perhaps, the next revision, the latter two volumes should be avoided; the rest will serve as adequate, if unexceptional updates.

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