FANTASTIC FLORA: THE WORLD’S BIGGEST, BADDEST, AND SMELLIEST PLANTS, by Ann McCallum Staats, Zoë Ingram, MIT Kids Press, May 20, 2025, Hardcover, $19.99 (ages 8-12)
Discover how some of the biggest, baddest, smelliest, and strangest plants earn their reputation as masters of survival in Fantastic Flora, by Ann McCallum Staats and Zoë Ingram.
Ready to meet some far-out flora? Leaf through this book and you’ll unearth some of the amazing adaptations that help plants thrive: Seeds that explode. Leaves that look like stones. Berries so deadly that swallowing just a few will stop your heart. A plant that eats meat, and another that pretends to be meat—rotten meat, with a smell so rank you’ll want to plug your nose. Dig in to the science of plant survival in a botanical book blooming with lush illustrations and filled with engagingly narrated, fascinating facts about how plants flourish, even in the most extreme environments on earth. A glossary, source notes, index, and select bibliography round out the back matter for readers eager to know more. —Synopsis provided by MIT Kids Press
One surefire way to get kids interested in science is to introduce them to the exciting stuff — stinky smells, poisons and disguises. And that’s just what author Ann McCallum Staats and illustrator Zoë Ingram do in Fantastic Flora.
Fantastic Flora is divided into four main sections — The Big, The Bad, The Smelly and The Exceptionally Strange. Each section is further divided into three chapters that each feature a specific plant. Those chapters then explore the plants in detail with main text and sidebars that divide up content and make it more accessible.
Staats’ text is comfortable and inviting, and Ingram’s illustrations help put faces, so to speak, to names.
Fantastic Flora is not only interesting but educational, making it a good option for curious kids at home or at school.
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