Plants!

In this powerfully illustrated book covering the photosynthetic organisms of our planet, author Nick Forshaw and illustrator William Exley have devised a glowing encyclopedic compendium of the plant world for the middle-school level readers and all others with inquiring minds. Readers are urged to follow agent Osprey as she investigates the history of plants and then draws a timeline from their origin to the present time. Starting with the cyanobacteria being transformed into chloroplasts within the algae body, the reader follows the evolution of plants and their adaptations to different environments, thus producing the myriad forms that are today’s marvels.

Various sections cover plant origins, their diverse botanical forms in specific ecosystems, the means for plant reproduction, domestication of plants and how humans have farmed plants to yield rubber, cotton, sugar, tea, and medicines. The accumulated information is incorporated into a six-foot pull-out timeline starting from 1,000 million years ago up to the present. Each period of time is vibrantly illustrated with the plants of that era along with notes describing the specific features of these specimens. As a youthful plant resource, this book is a treasure and can be read pictorially by younger readers and in more depth by others.