Rooting for Plants

Title: Rooting for Plants
Author: Janice N. Harrington
Major Themes: Plants, Botany, Scientists, Picture Book Biography
Synopsis: Charles S. Parker, a Black scientist, was interested in plants all his life, and was the first to describe several mushrooms.

For our history/science time today, we read Rooting for Plants. Of course, this is everyone’s favorite way of doing history or science, when we just read a picture book together. In this book, only did we get to learn about an interesting person from the past, but we also learned about botany, taxonomy, and mycology. 

Charles Parker loved plants all his life. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, he was surrounded by lush greenery everywhere he looked. He wanted to learn all he could about plants and how they grew. World War I interrupted his dreams. He ended up becoming one of the first Black men to lead a company in battle. During the war, he fought for equal rights for the men under him.

After the war, Charles began his investigations into the plant kingdom again. His passion led him to many parts of the United States and Canada, and he worked with many scientists, writing the first descriptions of some species. He even discovered some new species!

The pictures in Rooting for Plants are amazing. Some two-page spreads are simply a painting of a scene. Some are made to look like the front page of a newspaper. They’re full of detail and do very well at helping to tell the story of Charles Parker’s life. This is another great picture book biography to help children learn about the world around them, and the people who have made a difference in this world.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley, and these are my honest thoughts about it.

WARNING: There are a few pages that show pictures from World War I.

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