This was a large, colourful book about plants; not everyday plants you would find in your garden, but weird plants. There were plants I recognized, but most were plants I was not aware of. The book was divided into sections with each section addressing a subject such as how plants produce food for themselves, breed, communicate, etc. These were very educational and gave the reader an insight about why plants may have grown the way they do and some of the methods they use. Then each section showcased a few plants that demonstrated that skill/activity. There is a lot of information in this book and it is not one to sit and read straight through, but one to dip in and out of. It can be used as a jumping off point to find out more about a particular plant or type of plant. I have to mention The Tree Shrew Toilet Pitcher, which my grandson found hilarious. This is a plant that is fed by being pooped in by the tree shrew. Now if that doesn't interest kids, nothing will. I have one complaint about this book and that is that I would have loved to see photographs of actual plants. They could even have been at the back of the book with names, but I would have liked to see them. The illustrations in the book are amazing. They are large and colourful, taking up the full double page spread. The text included labels, scientific information, and tidbits about the various plant and topics in sections on the pages. This could be distracting to some, but I had no problem with it. I definitely recommend this book for schools and libraries. If you have a budding scientist or botanist, this is definitely a book for them.

A perfect book for the budding botanist in your life! While targeting a younger set of readers I loved the illustrations and still learned much even as an adult. A variety of plant life is covered from the more mundane suburban funds to the kind that eat live prey, leaving photosynthesis to the more delicate types.
If you have a nature curious young reader, can’t go wrong:

This was one book that I started at work while I was waiting to clock in and knowing I need to finish up some ARCs. When I first started reading it I rather enjoyed it but the further I got in the more it vexed me.

The presentation of the book itself is a bit up in the air for me. With the bright colored illustrations given, the small inserts of comments on the illustrations themselves and some of the wording I would have thought this was a children's book. But the more I got into it along with its length it started to feel like it may have been better off as an adult read or an even higher audience of children in which case would pictures be a bit hard to ask for.

I didn't like the added captions on some of the pictures. As an older reader I think I may be able to figure out what a petal may be or some other such trivia that the book was hoping to point out to me.

Another thing that upset me as a reader is the fickle reading format. Some pages were your normal left to right with the plant name, scientific name and a two-page spread to educate the reader on the plant. Other pages were used to the point where the reader need to flip the book to read it while in that case you either had to read it from the bottom to the top or from the top to the bottom.

The book was divided into sections with each section addressing a subject such as how plants produce food for themselves, breed, communicate, etc. These were very educational and gave the reader an insight about why plants may have grown the way they do and some of the methods they use.

Another factor I enjoyed was the fact that the author chose some plants that readers know about but also included other little known plants. As a result you get a nice combination to read about.

In the end it was an alright read for those who could overlook the book's faults. Informative and bright this book may interest gardeners and those into plants as a beginning read into the subject of plants.

***I received a free copy to read of this book in exchange for an honest review.***

Each spread introduces a different plant, in a close-up, vibrant images focusing on the extraordinary and unexpected features. Featuring poisonous plants and having special symbiotic relationship with animals or other plants. Narrative touches several areas of biology that is fascinating for the young readers: chemical messages sent out by plants, energy and nutrients of plants, plant-animal symbiosis, protecting habitats of plants.

Perfectly Peculiar Plants written by Chris Thorogood, and illustrated by Catell Ronca, looks at a number if unusual plants from all over the world. From giant waterlillies, to air plants, to dead horse arum, each plant gets a two page spread listing neat facts, as well as giving the name in English and Latin. There were three or four additional sections that addressed how plants get energy, how they move, and different categories, like symbiotic, parasitical, or carnivorous. Overall, both my cubs and I liked this book. I don't much care for the art, though my cubs enjoyed it. Perfect for the child who enjoyed nature and botany.

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing for providing an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I absolutely loved the artwork in this book. Every illustration is gorgeous. However, I'm not sure that the artwork and the text really go together. I think the artwork would be great with a fictional story. The text is quite dense at times and would work better in a traditional science style book layout with photos and fun fact inserts.

Plants with ant 🐜 farms and fungi growing in their roots. Succulents that mimic stones. Toilet shaped leaves that encourage tree shrews to poop inside. Plants chemically signaling about aphid attacks.

Chris Thorogood’s stunning cut-paper non-fiction picture book, depicts plants so bizarre they make any self-respecting sci-fi or fantasy writer green with envy. (See what I did, there?)

I read it with my seven-year-old weird science enthusiast. While he and I were riveted, we kept turning to Google pics of these real-live weird plants.

The brilliantly-colored illustrations are gorgeous to put it mildly; but I can’t help but think even inset photographs would have grounded the reader and added more depth to the fanciful nature of the text.

I learned a lot reading this book. Combine that with teh gorgeous colors, I think children would love us reading this together. I did not like how some of the teh pages were inverted though; made it hard to read the ARC.

Perfectly Peculiar Plants is a book that aims to teach children about beautiful and rare plants. The illustrations are quite colourful, the chosen plants are indeed peculiar and the information about each one is interesting.

My problem with the book is that the illustrations are too abstract and I have to admit that in many cases I was not even sure where exactly in the page was the plant being described or how it would look like in real life. Like other reviewers have pointed out, the book would have been much better if it included pictures of the actual plants. Showing real photos next to the bright illustrations of this book would have been amazing. As it is, I'm sorry to say that I don't recommend this book.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks!

Interesting selection, vivid illustrations, brief explanations and facts. I think many will enjoy this as a resource.

I’m presuming that this book is meant to spark interest in botany, and weird plants, but I have to agree with the other review that these plants didn’t need to be drawn. They are pretty amazing in real life.

Still the pictures are bright and colorful.

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<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4704" src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-07-at-4.36.29-PM.png" alt="" />

And the information is concise and to the point. This might be a good jumping off point for children that want more information about plants.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.