In this day and age, one could easily use ones' cell phone, take a picture of a plant, namely in this case, a wildflower, and bingo ... discover its name, habitat, find usefulnesses such as medicinal uses besides its beauty, warnings of possible toxic characteristics and so on. But what's the fun in that?

A hand's-on experience would provide so many more learning-worthy encounters. This book could aid and guide a child in a serious outdoors, discovery class. I believe this book to be quite comprehensive in detailing how to identify various wildflowers (of the Pacific Northwest - in the USA).

Honing in on color, perceived number of petals a particular wildflower has, is a start in the discovery process, according to Ashley Erdely, the author. Erdely goes on to instruct that the month, habitat, climate, elevation and so many other variables, educated a child as to the where and when to find the wildflower in it's blooming state. These descriptions are accompanied by magnificient photography of the wildflowers, in fields of them and as individual flowers. In my opinion, this book would be very worth exploring.

There is a whole swathe of potential to explore, from white trilliums and Miner's Lettuce to yellow, blue, pink and purple blossoms and so much more; to poisonous plants to beware of and the bonus - the pollinators such as the birds, bees, beetle and more. I found this to be very interesting and my curiousity peaked.

Additionally, there are plenty of sidebars with extra information and at book's end, a glossary of terms. I believe this book would allow one to plan out a provisional itinery of where, when, and what to look for at almost any time of the year in the Pacific Northwest region. It is like an adventure one could do with ones' children, just waiting to happen.

~ Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger ~

June 2025

Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the complimentary review copy sent by NetGalley and the publisher.

Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest for Kids would be a great reference book to have in the classroom for Social Studies or Science units focusing on the Northwest Region of the United States and plant life. Great information, wonderful photos and especially loved the chart with the blooming season of all of the flowers in the area.

Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest For Kids (A Timber Press Field Guide)
by Ashley Erdely
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Great resource for the classroom and the history buff. The book has images and text that explore the plants and animals of the Pacific Northwest. The images help identify the plants, and their uses. The text shows the historical uses of the plants, and gives warnings for toxic exposure, an medicinal uses.

What an absolutely fantastic field guide! This field guide, with colorful and eye catching photos and illustrations is perfect for kids. It is chalk full of fun facts, Indigenous and traditional uses of plants, pollinator info, and has none of the boring wordiness that makes normal field guides inaccessible to a young audience. If you have kids in your life, this one is the way to go, and I know I'll be getting it for my students!

Fantastic, fun field guide to wildflowers.

While targeting younger readers, this one is something any age can appreciate. I do note that there's a version aimed at all ages available, too, but don't let the "for kids" in the title stop you from getting this one. As one of those whose spent much of my life identifying flowers as the "pretty yellow flowers" or simply "blue" or "pink" or whatever, I was delighted to find several of the flowers common to my yard and very Northwest Pacific area showcased. To be honest, the book had me with its early section on composite flowers, not only because sunflowers and daisies are favorites but because, well, I'm owned by a furry corgi mix named Daisy. Heck, I had to go out and find some wild daisies still growing here -- alas, flower season is winding down fast in Alaska -- to check out the descriptions given. Yep, right on.

In any case, while written for children, I see this as a book meant to be utilized by adults accompanying children on nature walks as the text isn't elementary. Hence my belief all ages will enjoy. It's well organized with a simple but well structured table of contents and quick reference notes up front. The section showing the various flowers by blooming time/months and elevation were an added touch. The book can certainly be read in any order or simply grabbed as a quick reference with even info on how best to utilize the book. Basic info and fun facts and stories are given for each in addition to scientific names, most of which seemed to be explained. For instance, the flower I know as Blue Bells is known in the scientific community as Companula Rotundfolia. Why? In Latin, companula means "little bell" while rotundfolia means "round leaves". Steps to identify them are included. There's also info on what plants to avoid.

Even better, all this is done in a readable, easily understandable way. There's even a brief history of how flowers came to be spread, including by one of my Alaskan favorites, glaciers. In addition, ways that plants have evolved, such as having tiny surface hairs or a waxy surface, for instance, to preserve moisture. Pollinators get space, too, including the likes of bats, which I'd never really thought about as a potential pollinator. And, oh, so much more. Seriously, they even discuss the need for carrying a first aid kit with you, never a bad idea when venturing out. I liked their reminder that "One person's weed is another person's wildflower," too, as a fan of the dandelion. There's also an extensive glossary and index at the back as well as photo credits. The photos are wonderful, by the way. Very colorful and frequently close up views that catch your eye. Thanks #TimberPress and #NetGalley for this early peek. I loved it and the 8" measuring guide on the back cover was a good touch.

Beautiful and educational book! Though my son and I currently live far from the Pacific Northwest, we enjoyed reading this book and saw the colorful flowers almost so different with what we see everyday here in Indonesia. However, because I read this book with my son, I wish there were more pictures (real and illustrations) of the flowers. The tidbits about the flowers were so educational. I tried to explain the facts about the flowers to my son so he also absorbed the knowledge about each flowers.
This book inspired us to do our own research on flowers in our neighborhood. We already planned to go out and take pictures of the flowers we have surrounding our house.

Thank you to Ashley Erdely, Timber Press, and NetGalley for the ARC.