  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 04/01/2017 Gr 3–6—Fascinating overviews combine general plant information with insights into their more unique features. For example, Bristlecone Pines and Cacti explain adaptations that allow the plants to survive under harsh climate conditions. In addition to numerous photos, useful diagrams aid readers in understanding complex topics, such as the life cycle of a corpse flower. Although kelp are brown algae, not true plants, as the volume notes, the discussion of the complex ecosystem of their underwater forest and their important contributions to marine life conveys valuable information. Browsers may be especially intrigued by how carnivorous plants trap and digest their prey. The volumes note threats to all these unusual plants' survival, especially habitat destruction, pollution, and climate change. VERDICT A top choice for its refreshing approach to flora. - Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Booklist - 05/15/2017 Animals are everywhere in the series nonfiction world, so these installments in the World’s Weirdest Plants series, focusing on botanical oddities, are a particularly refreshing departure from the norm. The plant featured in Corpse Flowers Smell Nasty! will likely be one of the least well-known, but with diagrams, helpful context, and close-up photos of these strange-looking organisms, this volume is the best of the bunch. Each volume is broken up into brief chapters, which consist of a large-format photo and a single page of text, accented by inset boxes offering additional facts. The narrow scope of these volumes makes them best suited to research projects, but kids fascinated by plants will also find these unusual offerings absorbing. - Copyright 2017 Booklist. Loading...
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