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Flowers Are Pretty ... Weird!
Warning -- this book contains top-secret information about flowers! Prepare to be shocked and weirded out by this hilarious and totally true picture book introduction to some of nature's strangest plants.
Flowers are beautiful. They have bright colors, soft petals and sweet nectar. Yum! But that's not the whole truth. Flowers can be WEIRD . . . and one bee is here to let everyone know! Talking directly to the reader, a bee reveals how flowers are so much stranger than what we think. Did you know that there are some flowers that only bloom in the nighttime? Some flowers are spooky, and look like ghosts, or bats, or a monster's mouth. And while most flowers smell good, there are some that smell like dead meat, or even horse poop!
This hilarious and refreshing book with silly and sweet illustrations explores the science of flowers and shows that these plants are not always stereotypically pretty and harmless as we often think they are -- they are fascinating, disgusting, complicated and amazing.
Flowers are beautiful. They have bright colors, soft petals and sweet nectar. Yum! But that's not the whole truth. Flowers can be WEIRD . . . and one bee is here to let everyone know! Talking directly to the reader, a bee reveals how flowers are so much stranger than what we think. Did you know that there are some flowers that only bloom in the nighttime? Some flowers are spooky, and look like ghosts, or bats, or a monster's mouth. And while most flowers smell good, there are some that smell like dead meat, or even horse poop!
This hilarious and refreshing book with silly and sweet illustrations explores the science of flowers and shows that these plants are not always stereotypically pretty and harmless as we often think they are -- they are fascinating, disgusting, complicated and amazing.
36 pages, Hardcover
First published April 26, 2022
2 people are currently reading
116 people want to read
About the author
Rosemary Mosco
25 books154 followersRosemary makes books and cartoons that connect people with the natural world. Her Bird and Moon nature comics won the National Cartoonists Society’s award for Best Online Short Form Comic and were the subject of an award-winning museum exhibit. She makes best-selling science books for kids and adults and gives keynotes at birding festivals. She’s written and drawn for The New York Times, Audubon, PBS kids’ Elinor Wonders Why, Ranger Rick, and more. She’s represented by Seth Fishman. Her favorite glacial landform is the esker.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
August 17, 2021
Lately I’ve been very interested in flowers and plants so when I saw this comic, I knew I needed to requested it.
It was a little bit more childish than what I expected but I enjoyed nonetheless, it was just so cute, I loved the bee and the illustrations were so well done, it almost looked like a picture.
It was very interesting to learn more about all the different flowers that exist on this earth, some of them I’ve never even heard of, I’m sure kids will love this book.
Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for this e-ARC in exchange of an honest review
It was a little bit more childish than what I expected but I enjoyed nonetheless, it was just so cute, I loved the bee and the illustrations were so well done, it almost looked like a picture.
It was very interesting to learn more about all the different flowers that exist on this earth, some of them I’ve never even heard of, I’m sure kids will love this book.
Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for this e-ARC in exchange of an honest review
July 5, 2022
Flowers Are Pretty Weird is an adorable and fun book about the strange, weird, and even sometimes gross side of flowers. It has a great sense of humour and lots of fun facts and is sure to delight anyone who already likes flowers or who hasn't figured out that they're cool yet. It's a great follow up to Butterflies Are Pretty Gross. Recommended!
October 8, 2022
From the creators of Butterflies are Pretty Gross, comes Flowers are Pretty Weird! Kids won't read into the quivering and shivering (I'm expecting a bird book next). If you teach life cycle and adaptations, you might start collecting these books.
January 3, 2022
This was beautifully fantastic and I want a copy for my home to enjoy over and over. The artwork is so soothing and interesting. The information is incredible, I even learned something new!
This is perfect for anyone, but bee lovers, flower friends, and curious minds will love it the most!
I just reviewed Flowers Are Pretty ... Weird! by Rosemary Mosco. #FlowersArePrettyWeird #NetGalley
This is perfect for anyone, but bee lovers, flower friends, and curious minds will love it the most!
I just reviewed Flowers Are Pretty ... Weird! by Rosemary Mosco. #FlowersArePrettyWeird #NetGalley
July 13, 2022
A science-friendly picture book for older preschoolers and up. Briefly describes the opposite differences many flowers have - lovely scented/stinky, dainty flowers/huge blossoms, etc. Nice art. Narrated by a bee -- so there lots of bee puns are sprinkled throughout the book.
June 6, 2025
Another cute book by Rosemary Mosco.
July 20, 2021
Thanks to Netgalley and Tundra Books for a free digital copy.
From the point of view of a bee, this book teaches you all about flowers. And how they are awesome, and weird. I found the bee a little snarky, which I don't love, but overall the book is good.
From the point of view of a bee, this book teaches you all about flowers. And how they are awesome, and weird. I found the bee a little snarky, which I don't love, but overall the book is good.
September 10, 2022
"Hi! I'm a bee.
And there's one thing
that a bee adores more
than anything else...
(turn the page)
FLOWERS!
I love them. Bee-lieve me, I do...." (pages 1-4)
This cute and quirky character is a bee-lightful host as the reader learns about flowers that are less familiar (and thus "weird").
Rosemary Mosco skillfully employs the structure of COMPARE and CONTRAST to engage the reader in thinking about the diverse and wide range of flowers that inhabit our earth. Some of the comparisons share facts frequently seen in books on flowers like that some have an appealing smell (e.g. roses) and some just stink (like the Corpse Lily). But there are also some surprising comparisons like the fact that "some flowers live in the sky" (living on and blooming on trees) (e.g. Air Plants) and "some flowers live under the ground" (e.g. Underground orchids). Mosco respects and challenges her readers to think beyond the text. Different animals spread the different flowers pollen based on the physical features and locations of those flowers. Mosco lets the reader infer why a hummingbird spreads the Air Plants' pollen but a termite spreads the pollen of the Western Underground Orchid.
The LAYOUT AND DESIGN is smart. At multiple points in the book, our friend the bee offers to share even weirder or wilder information. We have a choice - we can turn the page if we want that weirder or wilder information or we can stop. (Of course, we turn the page.) But as we move into each new section Souva illustrates the information via a different type of medium/technology - in one section we are seeing the flowers via the bee's telescope, in another via a scrapbook layout, and in the final section, the reader sees the information via a "B-TUBE" video on a tablet the bee is holding. Small details like this add to the engagement and also to possible conversations we can have with students in response to questions like Thinking about how the bee shares information with use, what does that reveal about the bee? How does this help us think about how we might learn more about flowers
DON'T SKIP THE AUTHOR'S NOTE. Mosco includes some additional details about the less familiar flowers.
I'm curious about two points:
1) A big chunk of the book is about pollinators. Mosco shares that different kinds of pollinators (e.g., bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, etc.) visit (and thus get pollen on themselves which they spread) different kinds of flowers depending on the features of the flowers but she never discusses that these creatures get nectar from these flowers. The text makes it seem like these creatures just service the flowers, that spreading pollen is their purpose. When in reality it's a reciprocal relationship. This may be a missed opportunity for the young audience - an audience that can totally handle this concept. She does mention on page 1 - or our host the bee mentions - that bees like the sweet nectar in flowers. Maybe that's enough?
2) Mosco's decision to use general names for flowers like "rose," more specific genus common names like "Ghost Flower" and, in one case, the scientific name "Orchidantha" flowers. Maybe there's not a common name for the former. She mostly uses genus common names (Oxeye Daisies, Closed Bottle Gentians, California Poppies) which seems to work and which again reveals Mosco's respect for her readers (i.e., they can handle these terms).
These are NOT DEAL BREAKER points. Just something to think about when you read aloud and discuss with students.
And there's one thing
that a bee adores more
than anything else...
(turn the page)
FLOWERS!
I love them. Bee-lieve me, I do...." (pages 1-4)
This cute and quirky character is a bee-lightful host as the reader learns about flowers that are less familiar (and thus "weird").
Rosemary Mosco skillfully employs the structure of COMPARE and CONTRAST to engage the reader in thinking about the diverse and wide range of flowers that inhabit our earth. Some of the comparisons share facts frequently seen in books on flowers like that some have an appealing smell (e.g. roses) and some just stink (like the Corpse Lily). But there are also some surprising comparisons like the fact that "some flowers live in the sky" (living on and blooming on trees) (e.g. Air Plants) and "some flowers live under the ground" (e.g. Underground orchids). Mosco respects and challenges her readers to think beyond the text. Different animals spread the different flowers pollen based on the physical features and locations of those flowers. Mosco lets the reader infer why a hummingbird spreads the Air Plants' pollen but a termite spreads the pollen of the Western Underground Orchid.
The LAYOUT AND DESIGN is smart. At multiple points in the book, our friend the bee offers to share even weirder or wilder information. We have a choice - we can turn the page if we want that weirder or wilder information or we can stop. (Of course, we turn the page.) But as we move into each new section Souva illustrates the information via a different type of medium/technology - in one section we are seeing the flowers via the bee's telescope, in another via a scrapbook layout, and in the final section, the reader sees the information via a "B-TUBE" video on a tablet the bee is holding. Small details like this add to the engagement and also to possible conversations we can have with students in response to questions like Thinking about how the bee shares information with use, what does that reveal about the bee? How does this help us think about how we might learn more about flowers
DON'T SKIP THE AUTHOR'S NOTE. Mosco includes some additional details about the less familiar flowers.
I'm curious about two points:
1) A big chunk of the book is about pollinators. Mosco shares that different kinds of pollinators (e.g., bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, etc.) visit (and thus get pollen on themselves which they spread) different kinds of flowers depending on the features of the flowers but she never discusses that these creatures get nectar from these flowers. The text makes it seem like these creatures just service the flowers, that spreading pollen is their purpose. When in reality it's a reciprocal relationship. This may be a missed opportunity for the young audience - an audience that can totally handle this concept. She does mention on page 1 - or our host the bee mentions - that bees like the sweet nectar in flowers. Maybe that's enough?
2) Mosco's decision to use general names for flowers like "rose," more specific genus common names like "Ghost Flower" and, in one case, the scientific name "Orchidantha" flowers. Maybe there's not a common name for the former. She mostly uses genus common names (Oxeye Daisies, Closed Bottle Gentians, California Poppies) which seems to work and which again reveals Mosco's respect for her readers (i.e., they can handle these terms).
These are NOT DEAL BREAKER points. Just something to think about when you read aloud and discuss with students.
July 31, 2021
I really want to like this book. I wish this book contained pictures of the "weird" or weird-ness of flowers, but it contains only illustrations.
Bee-lieve me when I say that there are many bee related puns.
There are several times when the author challenged the reader to keep reading or close the book; each time I could just picture my little nephew (age 2) closing the book.
This book seems to be targeted as "science" and "teens & YA"; the book is 40 pages or so and should probably be targeted for young readers 1st/2nd grade.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author Rosemary Mosco and the publisher Tundra books for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review. Publication date is 29 Mar 2022.
Bee-lieve me when I say that there are many bee related puns.
There are several times when the author challenged the reader to keep reading or close the book; each time I could just picture my little nephew (age 2) closing the book.
This book seems to be targeted as "science" and "teens & YA"; the book is 40 pages or so and should probably be targeted for young readers 1st/2nd grade.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author Rosemary Mosco and the publisher Tundra books for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review. Publication date is 29 Mar 2022.
November 17, 2022
I remain a fan of Mosco's Bird And Moon comics and picked this title up expecting her classical science cartoons with a fun story woven in. The illustration style is much more traditional here, with cute but too minimal surface level science factoids thrown in. While the blurring of the bee butt (nudity, gasp!) was a silly fun laugh, this book's target demo is clearly of the much younger set than her slightly more tongue-in-cheek humor of her comics supports. Although I did admittedly look up some of the flowers after reading and sure enough, the Large Duck Orchid and Monkey Face Orchid are very appropriately named. So kudos to Mosco for once again peaking my interest into learning more about the subject matter after reading her work.
July 19, 2021
This was great read. I finished it while eating a bag of chips. I mean I was so into it I couldn’t stop eating and flipping pages. I love flowers and I learned about so many more that I hadn’t heard of and now I wonder if I can grow a few on my patio? Or something?! I bet they’ll be interesting for the neighbors and my pups. I mean there’s stinky flowers, dragon flowers and I want to try dragon fruit too, some roses, corpse flowers the various orchids. Ha. These weirdly, cute, and smelly flowers… yes I’ll take them all, The pictures are done nicely and the story is fun too. I liked this book a lot Thanks Mr. Bee for the lesson.
June 6, 2022
I laughed out loud at the bee butt, and then got a little meh at the description of "yucky" things and "ewww" factor. I mean, yes, to a human horse poop is yucky and you shouldn't eat it, but for the beetles that pollinate some of these flowers, the smell is super important. For kids who lean in when you make a yuck face and say ew, gross, this will hit that button just fine.
The illustrations are really attractive, and I liked the direct narrator approach -- bee to reader. Overall I found it charming and basically informative. There's as much information about the pollinators as the flowers themselves.
The illustrations are really attractive, and I liked the direct narrator approach -- bee to reader. Overall I found it charming and basically informative. There's as much information about the pollinators as the flowers themselves.
April 9, 2022
I received a copy of Flowers are Pretty... Weird! by Rosemary Mosco and illustrated by Jacob Souva from Penguin Random House Canada in exchange for an honest review.
This fun and informative picture book follows a bee as it shares some pretty weird and cool facts about different flowers. The illustrations are so colourful and playful which matches the narration of this perky little bee who continues to invite readers to turn the page and read on. This picture book is such an inviting and engaging book that will entertain and educate readers at the same time.
This fun and informative picture book follows a bee as it shares some pretty weird and cool facts about different flowers. The illustrations are so colourful and playful which matches the narration of this perky little bee who continues to invite readers to turn the page and read on. This picture book is such an inviting and engaging book that will entertain and educate readers at the same time.
July 3, 2022
A fascinating brief introduction to a bunch of very weird flowers. The bee puns got kind of annoying, but the bits where the bee broke the fourth wall to try to convince you to stop reading we’re funny. I think readers would be compelled to do the opposite of what the bee’s encouraging for sure. I wished badly that there was a photo album in the back of real pictures of the flowers. Also, the lack of back matter really detracted from the experience for me. At least include a link for further learning please!
June 7, 2023
A little bee gives readers the scoop on some weird and wonderful types of flowers they may never have heard about before, from strange looking petals, to oddly sized blooms, to atypical scents produced.
This creatively introduces readers to some of the stranger flowers out there. I like the selection of oddities included, as well as the more recognizable flowers to contrast them with. It really helps readers better appreciate the range of flowers out in the world, while also including some basic flower information.
This creatively introduces readers to some of the stranger flowers out there. I like the selection of oddities included, as well as the more recognizable flowers to contrast them with. It really helps readers better appreciate the range of flowers out in the world, while also including some basic flower information.
May 16, 2023
A bee takes the reader on a flower adventure showcasing all types of flowers!
This was wordier than usual for my storytime crowd so I paperclipped pages together to just read the highlights. There is bolded text and smaller text. I stuck to mainly the large print and a couple small print pages when the text was needed to make the story understandable.
2023 storytime theme: PreK Planters Flowers
Reviewed from a library copy.
This was wordier than usual for my storytime crowd so I paperclipped pages together to just read the highlights. There is bolded text and smaller text. I stuck to mainly the large print and a couple small print pages when the text was needed to make the story understandable.
2023 storytime theme: PreK Planters Flowers
Reviewed from a library copy.
August 23, 2023
No better way to get a kid interested in turning pages than to convince them they are about to learn secret knowledge - and this book does this so well - presented as a bee telling the reader information (but I know something else about flowers that’s even weirder! If you want to now, turn the page.) delightful and wonderful illustrations and even I as an adult enjoyed learning a few new things about flowers!
April 7, 2022
This is an educational book about flowers, told by a bee narrator with some humor thrown in. The illustrations are lovely. I would recommend it to patrons and teachers who want a quick introduction to interesting things about flowers - some are poisonous, some are good to eat, some look like animals, and so on. This would be fun for people who are learning about gardening.
September 29, 2022
A friendly bee tells about some very strange flowers in the world, occasionally giving the reader the chance to not read further (which of course, piques curiosity). The illustrations were nice, but it would have been nicer to have photographs of the relevant flowers (either in the story itself, or in the back matter).
November 30, 2023
I appreciate that the writer/illustrator duo who created this book is celebrating nature and flora. In this book, they feature some very cool- and lesser-known plants with unique traits which more people should know about.
Tags: flowers, nature, weird plants, unusual nature, flora, biodiversity, art, illustration, kid-friendly books
Tags: flowers, nature, weird plants, unusual nature, flora, biodiversity, art, illustration, kid-friendly books
January 5, 2025
This would be a great book for preschool and kindergarteners who want to know more about the wide world of flowers, including how they aren’t all pretty, fragrant, and nice. I’m surprised the book didn’t include carnivorous flowers, but it did mention carrion flowers, flowers that don’t open, and flowers that only open at night. All pretty cool and weird.
February 20, 2025
Awesome book to teach about bees (and other insects that transfer pollen) and of course flowers! Kept me interested the whole way through. The illustrations are beautiful and frankly this book is just a great book to read aloud for fun as well! I concur, after reading this book, flowers ARE pretty weird.
August 3, 2021
This is a very cute read that I enjoyed with my (almost) six year old. She loves nature and books about how things work or what things are so this fit that for her. Lovely illustrations that are engaging for multiple reads.
May 6, 2022
This book about flowers contains weird and beautiful illustrations of flowers that are small and gigantic, tasty and poisonous, sweet smelling and stinky. Young readers will learn some great and funny flower facts.
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August 11, 2023This story was so fun! I loved the play on words, the vibrant colors, the non-fiction & science facts embedded throughout and in the backmatter, and especially the last two pages. SO enjoyable. I could see this being read any age K-5.
May 4, 2022
Another fantastic children's book from my favorite Nature Comic artist! I love that she featured my favorite flower, the Ghost Flower (Monotropa uniflora)
June 7, 2022
A bee describes some unusual flowers.
More information about the flowers named in this book is given at the back.
More information about the flowers named in this book is given at the back.
June 16, 2022
A cute picture book about unique flowers. Includes lots of interesting facts. My daughter thought the bee-puns got too repetitive.
June 18, 2022
The art! The bee puns! The weird and incredible diversity of flowers! Yes.
July 22, 2022
Probably not great to read all the way through for story time, but would be a good supplemental nonfiction to have for bee and/or flower related story times.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews