The nonfiction picture book Rooting for Plants by Janice N. Harrington and illustrated by Theodore Taylor III (Calkins Creek, August 2023) tells the story of, as the subtitle states, “The Unstoppable Charles S. Parker, Black Botanist and Collector.” This unknown-to-me Black scientist provided many insights into plants and fungi over the course of his lifetime,

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Making More: How Life Begins by Katherine Roy (Norton Young Readers, March 2023) is a middle-grade nonfiction tome about animal reproduction, plant reproduction, and even fungi reproduction. In short, it will help every young reader gain a better insight into just how living things “make more” and continue the life cycle. The first and last

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My six-year-old loves to read! It’s time he shares his thoughts on what he’s reading. I am always pleased when he wants to write about his reading: a budding reviewer in his own right! Rooting for You: A Moving Up Story by Susan Hood and illustrated by Matthew Cordell. This book is about a seed

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Poetrees by Douglas Florian (Beach Lane Books, 2010) is a creative collection of poems about trees, seeds, and the growing cycle of plant life presented in a colorful and innovative way. The first thing to catch the reader’s attention is the layout of the book. While most picture books have a left-side binding, this one

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This week my four-year-old son and I are reading about rainforests. Nature’s Green Umbrella: Tropical Rain Forests by Gail Gibbons is a few steps above my son’s read-aloud level with the level of detail, but I really liked it. In Gail Gibbons’s trademark way, it had detailed text and illustrations to cover even more details

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