Plants Fight Back

Gr 2-4–Full-page cartoon illustrations accompanied by rhyming text teach readers how to recognize and identify plants, including poison ivy, nettle, and poison oak. Dark-skinned and light-skinned children are depicted throughout the text. The illustration of a Boy Scout Troop hiking through the woods shows brown-skinned scouts with textured hair. The “Science Connection” section provides activities for teachers, educators, and/or group leaders to share with their students. “Literacy Connection” features tips for reading aloud and a short question and answer with Amstutz and Evans. A ten-word glossary is also included. Students are encouraged to design a plant and create a model of it. “Let’s Have a Plant Party” is available online as a student handout, with a diagram. Surprising plant facts will engage readers: “Some fold their leaves and pretend to be dead, in hopes that a predator might be misled”; “When cotton plants are being eaten by caterpillars, they send out an “SOS signal”—an invisible cloud of chemicals—into the air.”