This was a lovely book that highlights some of the species one can see in Southern Appalachia, but as a wannabe botanists and vicarious armchair traveler, I enjoyed the experience this book provided.

To be honest, I’m not quite sure what I was expecting from the title and description, but this wasn’t quite it. I suppose I imagined a coffee table book with lush illustrations and poems with interspersed essays. Primarily this is a collection of discriptions of the species being highlighted. The introduction does not really give a sufficient explanation as to why these and not others and, really, that’s the problem. Some lovely poems, illustrations, etc. but the coherent whole was lacking for me.