Primary grade readers will see a variety of stem types in this introductory book on plants. What seems so obvious to us as adults is an eye opener to young children. This seems to become more true everyday as we become more urban, especially for children living in apartments without yards. In this 8′ X 7″ book, the top 5 inches of each page is a color photo of a plant  with the bottom 3 inches of the page containing one or two sentences typed  in a bold large font.

Page 10 states, “ Stems move water and food around a plant.”   Then on the last page of the book, below the Index, in the Notes for Parents and Teachers section in small font is the activity for demonstrating this by placing a freshly-cut white carnation into a vase of water with food coloring added to it. I hope children do not miss out on this activity, though I fear they will. This activity holds fond childhood memories for me.