Wildflowers Around the Year

While snow was still on the ground, noted naturalist/photographer Hope Ryden set out to find and document the wide variety of wildflowers that bloom each season. In conversational essays accompanied by stunning full-color photographs, she introduces readers to more than thirty wildflowers found in backyards, vacant lots, and swamps across the country, from the common dandelion to the rare and delicate nodding ladies’ tresses. She also tells the story behind the name of each flower and describes the relationship each has with its specific winged pollinator—bird or insect.
Informative and beautiful to look at, Wildflowers Around the Year will inspire young readers to start their own search for these often hidden treasures. Bibliography.

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Describes how wildflowers survive with the help of birds and insects, and explains where each example is found and how it grows.

Hope Ryden has written four nonfiction books on wild horses, and her articles and photographs on the subject have appeared in National Geographic and other publications. She is also the author of the novel Wild Horse Summer. Ms. Ryden lives in New York City and Wolf Lake, New York.

Gr 4-8-Ryden opens her book with the statement, "Everyone loves wildflowers," and then makes a case for enjoying and protecting them. Her large, incredibly sharp, full-color photos of 38 species are stunning. The text accompanying each picture is both informative and personal. Readers find out how the flower got its name, where to look for it, how it is pollinated, how it has been studied by scientists or used by people, and what meaning it has to the author. Occasional slight personification ("The Canada lily prevents this from happening by hanging its head") adds to the affectionate tone of the writing, inviting youngsters to care about these flowers. This is not a field guide. Although the entries are arranged generally by the months in which they bloom in the U.S., there are no maps; the size of the book eliminates easy portability; and the small number of flowers covered limits its use in identification. See it instead as a luxurious invitation for children to take a close look at wildflowers in their part of the country.-Ellen Heath, Orchard School, Ridgewood, NJ Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.