Amazing Plants of the World by Stepanka Sekaninova is a beautiful and interesting introduction to rare plants. I love gardening and this book offered me the opportunity to get my child interested in plants, too. The artwork is so bold and colorful, which really helped keep my little one (and me!) engaged. It was an interesting and informative book that we could both learn from, and it was just as enjoyable for adults as for the kids. Would definitely recommend it to other parents!
-Amanda A, ReviewerNarrated by an enthusiastic, quirky gardener, read about weird plants that stink, look peculiar, eat meat, mimic other things, and many more such oddities. The illustrations are accompanied by a lively description that gives pertinent facts while engaging readers with the gardener's strong voice. - Imagination Soup Blog
Other than that one flower, it was wonderfully interesting to learn about all the weird plants in the world! There are some really amazing plants in this book, and many times I thought to myself, Oh my goodness! THAT can't be real. That has to be fake. Some of them look like they belong on an alien landscape! But no, they are all REAL plants on our own dear planet Earth. Fascinating! - Luminous Libro
First I must say we haven't finished but both my kids have adored learning all about exotic plants and the illustrations are super cute. We will continue learning about a few plants a night until we are done. Very entertaining.
-Julia H, ReviewerThis book has pretty illustrations. I would recommend this book for young patrons who are interested in plants and gardening. The sections like carnivorous plants and smelly plants will be amusing to kids learning about these things for the first time. This would also be a nice addition to a school library. - Amanda B, Librarian
I love old Victorian botany books with the journal sketches of flowers in them, and this feels like a modern day version of one of those! It has a fun and upbeat narration to guide the reader through the garden which is informative but spunky and entertaining enough to keep kids interested. The illustrations of the plants are great and a good mix of realistic and fantastical. Really enjoyable! - NetGalley- Reviewer
This bold and beautiful picture book tells the story of 41 amazing plants and their very unusual special qualities. Each page shows an interesting picture and gives about 1-2 paragraphs of informational text about a plant that most people might not have heard of. With a circus or museum of wonders type theme the title fonts and slightly creepy pictures will keep kids engaged and interested. As a grade 3 teacher I could absolutely see having this book in my classroom. I teach about plants in science and one of the themes that we explore are unusual plants with unique adaptations, and this book would totally fit into that unit. Beyond that, I think this book would be interesting for kids in the same way that ripley's believe it or not type books keep them coming back for more. I think this book would work well in grade 3-8 classrooms or school libraries. My only caution is that there are some plant names or concepts that might not fit in every teacher or family's comfort zone. For example there are plants such as the devils hand and the strangler tree that are a bit more on the creepy/scary side of the list as well as a plant called the naked man orchid that has a tiny little pink part at the bottom that might be a bit scandalous in middle grade classrooms. Teachers and parents of younger children may want to give it a quick read first to see if it will be appropriate for more sensitive children. I so appreciate Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this fun book! - Angie k, Educator
I found the illustrations of this book amazing....and the tone of the book was very unusual. There was a way for children to learn about plants that was both serious and fun. - NetGalley- Reviewer
Amazing Plants of the World by Stepanka Sekaninova is currently scheduled for release on April 19 2022. This book tells readers all about forty one unusual plants that can literally take your breath away, or even eat you! Welcome to this botanical garden, where human feet have not trodden for many years. Actually, one has-or rather a pair of them have. They belong to a passionate botanist who spends all his time in the company of flowers. He does not seem interested in people, as he feels himself to be a plant rather than a member of the species homo sapiens. He may seem strange-or even scary, like anything unknown-but rest assured that he is completely harmless just like his plants are that is unless you're a fly or a beetle, which his carnivorous plants love to eat. No worries, those meat lovers might possibly snatch at your snack if you have a ham sandwich or a sausage in your bag, but that's all. Though some of the plants from this forgotten botanical garden look predatory at first sight, even spooky, they are still just plants that can never catch you.
Amazing Plants of the World is a fun and creatively illustrated book about some particularly plants. I think this book will catch and hold the attention of readers. The text is informative, but also a great deal of fun. I think the use of humor, high energy, and just plan fun text and illustrations work together very well to capture and hold the attention of young readers. There was a great deal of interesting information, and the quality of the artwork was absolutely wonderful. I think event he youngest readers will enjoy looking through this book for the artwork alone. I like that there is an index included in the book. The only think I would have liked to see that was missing, would be some actual photographs of the plants. No matter how fabulous those illustrations are, I would still like to see the real thing- perhaps in the endpages with resources to learn more about the plants covered. - SSTWriting Blog
