Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother And Other Botanical Atrocities (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
Review by Young Mensan Lila W, Age 8, Greater New York MensaWicked Plants: The A-Z of Plants that Kill, Maim, Intoxicate and Otherwise Offend is a factual guide book covering plants from the deadly and common Oleander to the painful Mala Mujer and everything else including Toxic Blue-Green Algae, and even Mandrake (for Harry Potter fans) – the profiles are so interesting, they contain Latin names, habitat, ‘native to’ information, common names and also their history told in interesting stories about each plant and flower. The book is filled with beautiful etchings (if that’s what you call them) and drawings, very useful information for anyone writing about nature, or just people that are curious. This book is way too scary for kids aged 1 – 7 years old, but anyone older than that would be okay. Awesome book. I'm not going to be quite as harsh as other reviewers. I will say that I found it difficult to judge Ms. Stewart's tone throughout much of the book---her sense of humour is profoundly dry. I would have liked to see extra information included in the sidebar instead of repeated info from each plant. Pointing out the positives of these "wicked" plants (ie the many poisonous plants used in medicines) would have lent more credibility to her writing, in my opinion. All in all, I found Wicked Plants to be an interesting book and I look forward to reading some of her other plant-based tomes.
What do You think about Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother And Other Botanical Atrocities (2009)?
Really neat reference/history book. I enjoyed how the details were woven into a light-hearted read.
—Lucy
Really interesting! I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it!
—Ohala
Fun, helpful and interesting, if you're into plants.
—Stefroses
Very interesting and full of beautiful illustrations.
—adelhabib
