"The grass is green,
The leaves are green,
The seaweed in the sea is green;
And in the springtime, all the earth
Begins to change,
Begins to grow
A Soft and lovely covering of green.

We could not live
Without the green and growing plants.

The food we eat,
The clothes we wear,
Our houses, medicines, our coal and oil—
All these, and more, depend on plants.
There are thousands of different kinds of plants,
Yet each has special ways to grow;
Each has a different shape, a different form,
That we can recognize
If we have learned to know them well.

So many, many secrets to be learned!
A few of them are in this book;
And all are there for you to find
Inside the world of green and growing plants."

This quotation is from the introduction to Green is for Growing. The promise it imparts is fulfilled in rhythmic prose and representational pictures that are also beautiful paintings.

Interesting and unusual plants are discussed, including, among others, alga, fungus, lichen, moss, fern, black-eyed Susan, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and the violet, with its secret flower. Explanations are simple and satisfying, in familiar terms that will delight young readers: ". . . every time you lick an ice cream cone / You may be eating algae from the sea."

Did you know that?

From the dust jacket