A Kids Guide to Plants of the Pacific Northwest

For the young forager, Philippa Joly’s A Kid’s Guide to the Plants of the Pacific Northwest with Cool Facts, Activities and Recipes is an excellent guide to the power of plants.

This middle grade active non fiction text is incredibly comprehensive. Philippa Joly takes great care to ensure that readers understand the importance of the plants of the Pacific Northwest. She ensures readers understand how to forage in a safe and conscious way by detailing the plants that are unsafe and poisonous as well as great rules of thumb when taking from the land in order to maintain sustainability.

All of the activities are so fun! Throughout the book, she details different plants that are available in each of the four seasons and how those plants can be used in various ways. The book is peppered with recipes, scavenger hunts and cool activities to do at home or at school.

For readers who live in the Pacific Northwest, this is the perfect guide. For those of us in other parts of the county, the book is still really great and a worthwhile purchase/borrow. The activities will provide inspiration to educators and parents and some of the plants are native to many different areas, not just the Pacific Northwest. With a little more knowledge about the native plants closest to the reader, the activities could easily be adapted. Plus the knowledge of caretaking for the land and the Indigenous perspective on plants and healing are really important lessons to learn no matter where you live.

An excellent book for nature lovers, people who live in the Pacific Northwest or those planning a trip to the coast.