by Rosemary Mosco
illustrated by Jacob Souva
Penguin Random House / Tundra Books 2022
ISBN 9780735265943
$21.99, 36 pp, ages 4 – 8
penguinrandomhouse.ca
This book can be enjoyed by students of many ages and shows how flowers are amazing, full of opposing characteristics; beautiful and ugly, tiny and gigantic, living in the sky and under the ground. Talking directly to the reader, a bee reveals how flowers are much stranger than what we think. Using humorous illustrations, lots of word play on “bee-utiful” facts, the author explores the science of flowers. Readers come to realize that the stereotype of pretty, harmless flowers is not at all accurate. Many look spooky, and smell awful! Some flowers are yummy, and some are poisonous. As the author points out all the diverse aspects of flowers, readers understand that, like humans, flowers are pretty, weird, and so much more!
Classroom Connections: Children will delight in this as a read-aloud book at any age, and it is a good example of opposing characteristics and the study of opposites. Giving examples of these opposites with a flower they can describe and name would be a good exercise either with illustrating on paper, or orally with a partner. Can they find an example of flowers that are tiny, and others gigantic? What flowers are yummy, what flowers are poisonous? Learning about the diversity of flowers and relating that to other species, including humans, helps students learn to appreciate that diversity in nature and society is part of our complex but beautiful world.
Review by Betty Schultze.
This review is featured in Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Winter 2024 issue.