Children's Plant Biology Books

LegoMan and the peas.

Photograph by Robin Orttung. All rights reserved.

Books listed here focus strongly on presenting botanical information, but place less emphasis on plot than books listed on the Children's Story Books page.

An extensive list of children's books about herbs (both fiction and non-fiction) can be found on Herbal Roots zine, a blog with a wealth of information for plant-based children's activities.

The AAAS lists children's science books that have won their annual prize here, and they usually include a book with plant-related topics.

A Seed Is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long

Stunning close-up illustrations of seeds and plant parts create a poetic interchange with the sparse, evocative text. On each double page, the illustrations at various scales hug a large-font statement, which is explained and developed in a few sentences in smaller font elsewhere on the page.

Beyond the beauty, detail, and thoughtfulness of perspective and scale in the artwork, the book excels at telling complex tales about seeds and strategies of plant survival in simple words. Despite the simplicity of the language, the information is correct and hefty. Monocots receive a bit of short shrift when it comes to seed structure (only dicot seeds store food in the cotyledons) - the price payed for avoiding an introduction of the endosperm. But elsewhere, the book succeeds both in botanical content and artistic delivery.

Ages 5 - 10.

Berries, Nuts and Seeds by Diane Burns

Each page illustrates how to recognize a type of fruit one might encounter on a walk. Detail-drawings illustrate how to recognize the particular plant to avoid confusion with look-alikes. The same page also shows animals that might consume these fruit.

Together with two other plant-focused books in the "Take Along Guide" Series--Trees, Leaves, and Bark and Wildflowers, Blooms, and Blossoms--this book encourages a "treasure hunt" mentality for outdoor romps that encourages joy of discovery. The animal illustrations send a strong message that plants are the base of a food web and that we are not the only "discoverers" hunting for them.

Ages 7 - 10; starting at 3 with help from an adult.

My Life as a Plant by Alan Jones, Jane Ellis & Janice Anderson

A coloring book by the president of the American Society of Plant Biologists, designed in collaboration with a science educator.

A free download in many languages is available here, or you can order a bound copy.

Ages preK - grade 2.