What Makes a Flower Grow?

Usborne Starting Point Science

by Susan Mayes, Brin Edwards (Illustrator), Mike Pringle (Illustrator)

-- Introduces young children to fundamental aspects of nature, science and technology-- Inspired by the questions children ask about the world around them-- Simple text and detailed illustrations answer questions in clear, step-by-step stages

Genres: Science, Plants, Nonfiction

24 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1989

Reviews

[Nicole Jennings · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive 24-page book about flowers and seeds from the Usborne Starting Point Science Collection that also includes flowers and seeds that are commonly seen in the UK and some that are not such as the ‘Squirting Cucumber’. The book includes a contents page, a ‘useful words’ section and an index.

For a nonfiction book the book is both informative and engaging for young children with basic but engaging pictures and some ‘do at home’ activities. For example, on page 9 there is an amusing picture of a bee wearing a flying cap and glasses who is flying among the wind pollinated pollen with an interesting fact ‘pollen grains carried by flower visitors are sticky, but pollen grains in the air are smooth’. On page 13 the seed pod of the ‘Squirting Cucumber’ has an engaging face with a mouth that squirts out the seeds that ‘travel at about 100 kilometres an hour’.

There are some suitable activities for young children such as growing beans, cress, sunflowers and watching white flowers grow in food colouring to demonstrate how plants ‘suck up water’.