PICTURE BOOK - Karl, Get Out of the Garden: Carolus Linnaeus and the Naming of Everything by Anita Sanchez

Illustrated by Catherine Stock

2017, Charlesbridge

48 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.05 - 37 ratings

My rating:  4

Endpapers:  brown sketches of plants and animals on white

1^st line/s: "Karl Linne was in the garden again.  He just wouldn't stay out of it!"

My comments: 

This picture book, perfect for elementary age kids and a great introduction to classification in 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade, is interesting and informative. I had no ideas that the classification system was created by a Swedish young man who had a love for flowers and became a college professor - in the early to mid 1700s. Fascinating! Excellent book. Includes an afterward, easy explanation of how the classification works, a timeline, and resource list.

Goodreads:  Do you know what a Solanum caule inermi herbaceo, foliis pinnatis incises, racemis simplicibus is?*
          Carolus (Karl) Linnaeus started off as a curious child who loved exploring the garden. Despite his intelligence--and his mother's scoldings--he was a poor student, preferring to be outdoors with his beloved plants and bugs. As he grew up, Karl's love of nature led him to take on a seemingly impossible task: to give a scientific name to every living thing on earth. The result was the Linnaean system--the basis for the classification system used by biologists around the world today. Backyard sciences are brought to life in beautiful color.
          Back matter includes more information about Linnaeus and scientific classification, a classification chart, a time line, source notes, resources for young readers, and a bibliography.

3 PICTURE BOOKS by Mary Murphy

I found all three of these at the Arivaca Library on 10/17/14.  The two librarians there turned me on to Mary Murphy.

Koala and the Flower

2001 Roaring Brook Press

HC & price

28 pgs  (I wonder if the end pages might have been pulled out?

Goodreads rating:

My rating: 4.5

     Badger and Raccoon see things n black and white.  They are always sure they are right.  Little gray Koala isn't sure about many things.  She asks lots of questions.
     What a clever book - and it has all sorts of atrributes!  Two pages of "graphic novel."  The appearance of a LIBRARY and BOOKS!  Two supposed friends who are subtle bullies.  The excitement of watching plants (flowers! grow from seeds with just a tiny bit of nurturing.  SO much to take in - and all of it was wonderful.

I Like It When ...
Board Book - 12 pgs.
1997

I like it when
     you hold my hand
     you let me help    (thank you)
     we eat new things   (surprise)
     we play peekaboo    (b00)
     you tickle me
     you dance with me
     you read to me
     you hug me tight
     we splash about
     we kiss goodnight

Say Hello Like This!
2014, Candlewick
ages 2 - 5
endpapers:  loud and cool - cows and cucks and chiks.

"A dog hello is licky and loud..."  (turn a half page and see what is described  - "a cat hello is prissy and proud"

Such a vibrant story - both in illustrations AND plot.  I'm not a huge animal person, but the front and back endpapers are just wonderful.

58. The Language of Flowers - Vanessa Diffenbaugh

2011, Ballantine Books
324 pages
for adults
HC $25.00 TPPL
Goodreads: 4.04
my rating: 5 (I loved it, didn't want it to end)
Setting:  Contemporary San Francisco and a vineyard and flower farm somewhere an hour and a half north of the Golden Gate Bridge.
1st sentence/s:  "For eight years I dreamed of fire.  Trees ignited as I passed the; oceans burned.  The sugary smoke settled in my hair as I slept, the scent like a cloud left on my pillow as I rose.  Even so, the moment my mattress started to burn, I bolted awake."

I read this book for a book group and became immediately enthralled. It was a delicious read. It was about a flawed foster child trying to figure out who and what and why she was, learning to trust...and love....and be part of a family. It takes place in contemporary San Francisco when Victoria turns 18, but occasionally goes back 8-10 years to the time she lived with Elizabeth, a single, vineyard owner, who planned to adopt Victoria. You know right from the start that something went terribly wrong during that time, but we don't discover exactly what it was until nearer the end of the book. There was a lot of information about flowers and the Victorian meanings of flowers, but it was all presented in a fascinating, interesting way so that even without a particular enjoyment of flowers it held my total attention.  Victoria's plight includes self-chosen homelessness, growing plants in public parks in San Francisco, stealing (food and flowers and anything she needed), discovering her business savvy, and learning to trust herself and not always running away.

One word for Victoria:  Bravo!  Thanks goodness I have never had to feel any of the abandonement or anguish that she did.