Weeds Find a Way by Cindy Jenson-Elliott

Weeds Find a Way

Words by Cindy Jenson-Elliott

Pictures by Carolyn Fisher

children's book 2014

finished 4/10/14

This is the fourth children's book I've been sent by Blue Slip Media. 

The others were Arbor Day Square, Planting the Wild Garden, and Miss Lady Bird's Wildflowers. I loved each one, as I do Weeds Find a Way. What the books have in common is teaching little ones about the natural world. Their website is here and their Facebook page here. 

The book begins

and goes on to explain how the weed seeds travel.

This is a subject that even we adults may not think about too often. We may gripe about weeds, without realizing how they spread. Perhaps reading this book to the children in our lives will give us a new appreciation for these quite wonderful plants. There is a lot of press now about how crucial milk weed is to the life-cycle of the monarch butterfly, and who knows what important part other weeds might play in the world. 

If conditions for growth aren't ideal, weeds will wait.

And after their waiting period is over, the book tells about the many unexpected places a weed might settle in to grow.

At the end, there are two pages telling the reader about many weeds, with such fun names as teasel and cheeseweed. 

This book is a gem, for children and for the adults who read to them. I learned a lot. It's a book to carry outdoors, while going on a search for weeds. It is wonderful for country children and city children alike, because weeds do grow everywhere. 

Today while Hazel Nina was asleep in my lap, Margaret read the book aloud. It was a delightful experience. We'll read it to her over and over as she gets bigger, and to her soon-to-be-born cousin, Campbell Walker. I'm sure they will both love it. I didn't think to have Tom take a picture of the reading, but here is the darling girl just afterwards, all set to go home.