Fantastic Flora: The World’s Biggest, Baddest, and Smelliest Plants by Ann McCallum Staats, Zoe Ingram
Published by MIT Kids Press on 5/20/25
ISBN: 1536232831
Genres: Non-Fiction
Format: Chapter Book Nonfiction
Source: MSL Book Review
Goodreads

Elementary and middle school readers who love science and plants will love this nonfiction book dedicated to the world’s biggest, baddest, and smelliest plants. Some of the plants are familiar to readers like the giant sequoia and Venus fly trap, while others will probably be new, like dead horse arum and the sandbox tree.  Readers will learn interesting ways these plants survive, even in extreme conditions, and how they reproduce in different ways, with the help of various pollinators.  

This book would be a great addition to an elementary or middle school library.  The table of contents is broken down into the qualities of the plants that make them unique (big, bad, smelly, and exceptionally strange) and then into chapters for the specific plant.  A lot of new scientific terms are introduced in the text and defined in the glossary.  The back of the book also includes citations for quotations used in the text as well as a bibliography.  Bold, colorful illustrations begin each chapter and are accompanied by smaller drawings and diagrams embedded within the chapter.  The content of this book will reinforce some concepts children will learn in science class, but will also introduce concepts and terms that will be new and interesting to plant lovers.

Reviewed by Lindsay Varnum, Orono Public Library