Lost Plant!

The two botanist-author-illustrators employ whimsical pen and ink drawings, along with silhouetted background elements, creating a distinctive artistic style to help young readers (ages 4-8) visualize the tale. A map of Abby and Tate's neighbourhood situates the story and lets the reader add imagined details to it. It also establishes the territory for future adventures. A science "Facts and Principles" page at the end of the book extends its readers' botanical knowledge and helps to open their eyes to the fascinating world of plants. This book is sized to fit comfortably in a child's hands, and features easy-to-turn pages.

Drs. Elisabeth Schussler and Jim Wandersee are botanists and biology educators who currently serve on the Faculty of Louisiana State University. Not only are they researchers who are well-published professionally, but they are also known for their nationwide campaign (involving posters, a series of presentations, and editorials) calling for focused efforts to eliminate what they call "the public's plant blindness." They see this book as a small part of the solution to this problem.

They define "plant blindness" as:
A.) the inability to see or notice the plants in one's environment;
B.) the inability to recognize the importance of plants in the biosphere and in human affairs;
C.) the inability to appreciate the aesthetic and unique biological features of the life forms that belong to the plant kingdom; and
D.) the misguided, anthropocentric ranking of plants as inferior to animals - and thus unworthy of serious consideration.

Their plant blindness campaign has recently received the prestigious endorsement of The Botanical Society of America.

The two authors delight in visual approaches to science learning. They co-founded the internationally recognized Giverny Award, which is given annually by their 15 Degree Laboratory research group to the author and illustrator of the book selected as the best children's science picture book. Like Abby and Tate, Elisabeth and Jim also enjoy working together and solving problems! They have dedicated the book to their spouses, Charlie and Carol.