Early Book Review: Plant a Pocket of Prairie by Phyllis Root, Betsy Bowen

Plant a Pocket of Prairie, written by Phyllis Root and illustrated by Betsy Bowen, is a non fiction picturebook scheduled for publication on April 15 2014. The prairie once covered almost 40 percent of the United States and is currently one of the most endangered ecosystems. This book explains what a prairie is, why they are important, and how readers can bring back a little of the prairie in their own backyard.

Plant a Pocket of Prairie does a nice job of explaining the nature of prairies and the variety of wildlife in the ecosystem. There are specific suggestions for what readers might plant in order to help displaced or hungry animals and insects, as well as how to go about growing those plants. The airy illustrations capture the feel of the prairie and just might inspire a few pockets of prairie before readers finish the book. The text offers some great information, but did not really flow like I wanted it to. However, the book is still a lovely book and inspired me to change up my spring planting a little bit this year.

I would recommend Plant a Pocket of Prairie for school and library collections. I think this book would be a good classroom or homeschooling resource for talking about the environment, the prairie, and the webs of life. It might be particularly engaging for those that live in areas where there were once vast prairies.