School Library Journal Review
PreS-K Excellent photographs and a wonderfully direct text present a vari ety of plants to show characteristics of flowers, fruits, and seeds and the cycle of one into another. Each captioned color photograph succinctly illustrates the text it accompanies. The brief textone or two sentences per page omits a discussion of pollination and seed development, thus limiting itself to young children. This fine book, pro fusely illustrated, speaks clearly if not eloquently. It is the elementary version of Anne Ophelia Dowden's From Flow er to Fruit (Crowell, 1984). Catherine Wood, Shelburne Museum, Vt. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Photographs of plants and trees present an array of flowers, fruits and finally seeds; the text makes the point that the function of flowers is to produce fruit and that of fruit, to protect seeds, from which plants grow. Wexler's full-color photographs are lush and varied, and from them readers may gain an appreciation for the richness and bounty of the natural world. His text is, in contrast, lackluster and repetitive; in addition, it erroneously labels as a ``vegetable plant'' a photograph of tomatoes, which are, botanically, a fruit. Ages 4-8. (February) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Carefully chosen full-color photographs of plants and a brief text present botanical characteristics for young readers. The author shows the wide variation in physical appearance in the plant world, while stressing that the function of plant parts is the same. Flowers produce seeds, often protected in a fruit; seeds develop into new plants. Examples are labeled and include familiar trees, shrubs, vines, grasses, vegetables, and house plants. Some photos give useful size clues--seeds resting on a human thumb or held in a hand; but the viewer will need prior experience with watermelon, kiwi, and yew berry to avoid concluding that they are the same size. No index. A satisfying introduction, vividly photographed. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Gr. 1-3. Coupling the sparest of texts with his stunning full-color photographs, Wexler presents a simple, effective botany lesson: flowers produce fruits that in turn produce seeds. The pictures amplify the text considerably, showing, for example, that many different kinds of plants have flowers, that the flowers come in a variety of hapes and sizes, but that ``mostly, flowers are for producing fruits that contain seeds.'' The definition of fruit is made clear, too, via the same pattern; items as varied as a bean, a gourd, a pear, or a watermelon are all distinguished as fruits whose purpose is to protect the seeds inside them. Examples of several kinds of seeds, including a sequence of a carob seed sprouting, make clear that seeds, in all their shapes and sizes, are there to start the species growth anew. This is a handsome presentation just right for the youngest science students. DMW. 582.'03 Plants-Development [CIP] 86-30616