Welcome to the Guest Hollow’s Botany Curriculum Book and Resource List! This list is to give you an idea of what will be needed if you are using Guest Hollow’s Botany Curriculum along with some helpful tips and other information. For details about the curriculum itself please click here.
The Guest Family
© Guest Hollow, LLC

Literature-based botany that’s engaging and fun!

In order to use Guest Hollow’s Botany Curriculum, you will need to obtain the scheduled books and other items separately. You may be able to borrow many for FREE from your local library! Check out the F.A.Q. below for tips on how to save money when using a literature-based curriculum. We hope you will enjoy this Guest Hollow, LLC curriculum!

The printable version of the book list features:

• The ISBN number and author’s name
  You can make sure your copy of the book matches the one in the schedule.
• Notification of when each book or item is used
  You can plan ahead when to check out books from the library. Books used throughout the year are marked “multiple weeks,” so you can decide whether you want to purchase them vs. borrow them.
• Checklists for planning
  A handy checklist helps you plan if you are going to buy or borrow a book. It can also help you choose the format of your books (physical copy, e-book, or audio book).
• Consumables are marked
  You’ll get advance notice of which items are consumable, so you’ll know what you may need to purchase and how many copies you may want to get if you are using the curriculum with multiple students.

Here’s an example of the printable book list:

Keep scrolling to see the full online book list (below the F.A.Q. on this page).

We’ve scheduled in lots of colorful, fact-filled, interesting and engaging books for this year’s botany study! Before taking a look at the books and resources, we’ve addressed some common questions:

Book and Resource F.A.Q.

Warning! Preview all materials! I strongly recommend you preview all items to see if they are appropriate for your student. Every family is different in what they find offensive! Additional notes about some of the books are in the descriptions below.

	Guest Hollow’s Botany Online Textbook Learn about botany in this FREE and engaging textbook with embedded videos, lots of pictures and illustrations, and text that is accessible and easy to read. You can also turn it into a free audiobook (instructions on how to do so are on the book’s home page).
	Knowledge Encyclopedia Plants and Fungi!: Our Growing World as You’ve Never Seen It Before Every page is packed with incredible facts and statistics. Did you know that the seeds of the Australian snottygobble plant don’t grow until they’ve been pooed out by emus? Or that the world’s oldest tree began growing before the pyramids were built? This book is a great visual addition to this year’s studies.
This is an unscheduled book. Note: The book mentions evolution.	Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification Looking for a faster, easier, and engaging way to identify plants? Related plants have similar characteristics, and they often have similar uses. Rather than learning new plants one-at-a-time, it is possible to learn them by the hundreds, based on plant family patterns with Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification.
Note: This book describes all sorts of poisonous and intoxicating plants. Use at your discretion! Recommended as a read-aloud if you use it with younger students.	Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities “A tree that sheds poison daggers; a glistening red seed that stops the heart; a shrub that causes paralysis; a vine that strangles; and a leaf that triggered a war. In Wicked Plants, Stewart takes on over two hundred of Mother Nature’s most appalling creations. Menacing botanical illustrations and splendidly ghastly drawings create a fascinating portrait of the evildoers that may be lurking in your own backyard. Drawing on history, medicine, science, and legend, this compendium of bloodcurdling botany will entertain, alarm, and enlighten even the most intrepid gardeners and nature lovers.”
	Lives of the Trees: An Uncommon History “Diana Wells, author of 100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names now turns her attention to something bigger―our deep-rooted relationship with trees. As she investigates the names and meanings of trees, telling their legends and lore, she reminds us of just how innately bound we are to these protectors of our planet. Since the human race began, we have depended on them for food, shade, shelter and fuel, not to mention furniture, musical instruments, medicine utensils and more. Wells has a remarkable ability to dig up the curious and the captivating: At one time, a worm found in a hazelnut prognosticated ill fortune. Rowan trees were planted in churchyards to prevent the dead from rising from their graves. Greek arrows were soaked in deadly yew, and Shakespeare’s witches in Macbeth used “Gall of goat and slips of Yew” to make their lethal brew. One bristlecone pine, at about 4,700 years old, is thought to be the oldest living plant on earth. All this and more can be found in the beautifully illustrated pages (themselves born of birch bark!) of 100 Trees.”
	100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names This book isn’t just about plants. It weaves mythology, history, people and places into 1-3 page stories. So, while you get familiarized with 100 different flowers, you’ll also learn a lot about all sorts of interesting tidbits and trivia.
Choose 1 of the following 3 nature journaling books
Option 1: The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling The ultimate guide to nature drawing and journaling! A potent combination of art, science, and boundless enthusiasm, the latest art instruction book from John Muir Laws (The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds) is a how-to guide for becoming a better artist and a more attentive naturalist. In straightforward text complemented by step-by-step illustrations, dozens of exercises lead the hand and mind through creating accurate reproductions of plants and animals as well as landscapes, skies, and more. Laws provides clear, practical advice for every step of the process for artists at every level, from the basics of choosing supplies to advanced techniques. While the book’s advice will improve the skills of already accomplished artists, the emphasis on seeing, learning, and feeling will make this book valuable—even revelatory—to anyone interested in the natural world, no matter how rudimentary their artistic abilities	Option 2: Nature Anatomy Notebook: A Place to Track and Draw Your Daily Observations “Adults and children are irresistibly drawn to Julia Rothman’s best-selling illustrated guide to the natural world, Nature Anatomy, with its colorful drawings that awaken curiosity — and invite imitation.  With this companion volume, Rothman leads fans deeper into nature observation with her specially designed record pages for tracking daily nature sightings throughout the seasons. Her step-by-step technique tutorials for drawing a flower, a dragonfly, a robin, and much more, along with blank sketchbook pages, will inspire nature lovers and art enthusiasts of all ages to take up their own colored pencils or favorite pens and create their own unique Nature Anatomy Notebook.”
Option 3: Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You “Reconnect with nature through sketching and writing with these simple methods for capturing the living beauty of each season. Clare Walker Leslie and co-author Charles E. Roth offer easy techniques, exercises, and prompts for all ages.”
	Draw Like an Artist: 100 Flowers and Plants: Step-by-Step Realistic Line Drawing “This comprehensive book features 600-plus step-by-step sketches depicting a vast array of beautiful botanicals, florals, plant structures, and more. Each begins with simple shapes and lines and builds on those forms, adding details like flower centers, leaf veins, and petal shading, and ending with a finished drawing. Helpful drawing tips are also included.”
	The Stuff that Stuff Is Made Of: The Things We Make With Plants Did you know that there’s seaweed in ice cream, cork in spacecraft and dandelion in truck tires? Have you wondered how paper or thread are made, or why the mandrake is so mysterious? Meticulously researched and beautifully illustrated, this book of wonder gives a young reader the knowledge of how the things we use every day are born from natural materials, and the surprising stories behind their creation. With 30 beautifully crafted stories throughout history and from all around the world, this book entwines plant science with human history and technology and is a beautiful botanical gift to explore and treasure for readers 7-70 years.
	The Biography of Bananas This book is free at the Open Library. This is another “Biography” book! This series has a good mix of geography, history, and plenty of beautiful photographs and illustrations. Click here to preview this book.
	The Biography of Cotton This book is free at the Open Library. This is another “Biography” book! This series has a good mix of geography, history, and plenty of beautiful photographs and illustrations.
	What Linnaeus Saw: A Scientist’s Quest to Name Every Living Thing “In What Linnaeus Saw, Karen Magnuson Beil chronicles Linnaeus’s life and career in readable, relatable prose.”
	What a Plant Knows “How does a Venus flytrap know when to snap shut? Can it actually feel an insect’s tiny, spindly legs? And how do cherry blossoms know when to bloom? Can they actually remember the weather? In What a Plant Knows, the renowned biologist Daniel Chamovitz shows how plants know up from down, how they know when a neighbor has been infested by a group of hungry beetles, and whether they appreciate the Led Zeppelin you’ve been playing for them or if they’re more partial to the melodic riffs of Bach. A rare inside look at what life is really like for the grass we walk on, the flowers we sniff, and the trees we climb, What a Plant Knows offers us a greater understanding of science and our place in nature.”
	The Biography of Spices This book is free at the Open Library. This is another “Biography” book! This series has a good mix of geography, history, and plenty of beautiful photographs and illustrations.
	Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850 This is a great book to tie into the roots topic while adding in a dose of history.
	The Biography of Potatoes This book is free at the Open Library. This is another “Biography” book! This series has a good mix of geography, history, and plenty of beautiful photographs and illustrations.
	The Biography of Rice This book is free at the Open Library. This is another “Biography” book! This series has a good mix of geography, history, and plenty of beautiful photographs and illustrations.
	The Biography of Corn This book is free at the Open Library. This is another “Biography” book! This series has a good mix of geography, history, and plenty of beautiful photographs and illustrations.
	The Biography of Tea This is another “Biography” book! This series has a good mix of geography, history, and plenty of beautiful photographs and illustrations.
	The Biography of Sugar – This book is not always available as new on Amazon. Buy a used copy, if possible. Also check Crabtree Publishing for a new copy. This book is free at the Open Library. This is another “Biography” book! This series has a good mix of geography, history, and plenty of beautiful photographs and illustrations.
	Sugar Changed the World “When this award-winning husband-and-wife team discovered that they each had sugar in their family history, they were inspired to trace the globe-spanning story of the sweet substance and to seek out the voices of those who led bitter sugar lives. The trail ran like a bright band from religious ceremonies in India to Europe’s Middle Ages, then on to Columbus, who brought the first cane cuttings to the Americas. Sugar was the substance that drove the bloody slave trade and caused the loss of countless lives but it also planted the seeds of revolution that led to freedom in the American colonies, Haiti, and France. With songs, oral histories, maps, and over 80 archival illustrations, here is the story of how one product allows us to see the grand currents of world history in new ways.”
This book is a high school add-on. Note: There is some sexuality and crude remarks as it applies to bees. Not recommended for younger students (or only as a read-aloud so you can edit out those parts on the fly). Read a review of this book by clicking here.	The Bees “The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Hunger Games in this brilliantly imagined debut set in an ancient culture where only the queen may breed and deformity means death. Thrilling, suspenseful and spectacularly imaginative, The Bees gives us a dazzling young heroine and will change forever the way you look at the world outside your window.”
Note: This book mentions evolution.	The Bee Book This beautiful book has an abundance of information about bees, and not just honey bees! From bee anatomy, to flowers that attract bees, caring for bees, and ways to use honey, this book is packed full of information, terrific photographs, and illustrations!
	Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature This is a super easy picture book. Even though the reading level of this book is for a very early elementary level, it really draws your attention to the fact that nature is very orderly, and you can observe some very distinct patterns in it. It’s also a great math tie-in!
	The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe Learn about bees and also explore the mystery of why they might be disappearing. Interesting!
	The Story of Seeds Something as small as a seed can have a worldwide impact. Did you know there are top-secret seed vaults hidden throughout the world? And once a seed disappears, that’s it—it’s gone forever? With the growth of genetically modified foods, the use of many seeds is dwindling—of 80,000 edible plants, only about 150 are being cultivated. With a global cast of men and women, scientists and laypeople, and photographic documentation, Nancy Castaldo chronicles where our food comes from, and more importantly, where it is going as she digs deeper into the importance of seeds in our world.
	The Biography of Coffee This book is free at the Open Library. This is another “Biography” book! This series has a good mix of geography, history, and plenty of beautiful photographs and illustrations.
	The Biography of Vanilla This book is free at the Open Library. This is another “Biography” book! This series has a good mix of geography, history, and plenty of beautiful photographs and illustrations.
	Chocolate: Sweet Science & Dark Secrets of the World’s Favorite Treat “Chocolate hits all the right sweet–and bitter–notes: cutting-edge genetic science whisked in with a strong social conscience, history, and culture yield one thought-provoking look into one of the world’s most popular foods. Readers who savored Chew on This and Food, Inc. and lovers of chocolate will relish this fascinating read.”
	Milton Hershey: More Than Chocolate “We’ve done more than our share to see you right, but you’re a Hershey, a true son of a dreamer,’ Milton’s Uncle Abraham said. ‘You’ll never stick with anything long enough to make it work for you.’ Milton gulped. He’d already suspected that his relatives had given up on him succeeding as a candy maker, but the words still stung. When Milton Hershey’s famous Hershey Bars debuted in 1905, few people knew of the hard work, dedication, and sacrifice preceding the triumph. Debt, lack of support, and fatigue had been constant companions for the famous chocolatier and philanthropist — a man with a fourth-grade education. Despite comparisons to his wandering father, Milton never gave up. Learning from his mistakes, he spent a lifetime creating sweet things to eat — first caramel, then chocolate. As his company soared, Milton used his wealth to care for others, founding a town for Hershey workers, a school for children in need, and a foundation dedicated to education, culture, and health care.”
	The Life and Times of the Peanut An easy picture book written for younger grades with lots of interesting info. Even though it’s for younger students, even high schoolers will find the peanut trivia interesting.
Choose 1 of the following options:
Option 1: George Washington Carver: From Slave to Scientist “Written for readers age 10 and up — enjoyed by adults! Once a kidnapped slave baby, George Washington Carver found freedom in learning everything he could about the world around him. Overcoming poverty and racism, George became a brilliant scientist and a gifted professor who dedicated his expertise to helping black farmers escape the devastating grip of poverty. George’s scientific creativity knew no limits. His ingenious experimentation with peanuts and other plants helped rescue the failing Southern economy. Still remembered for his far-reaching and diverse achievements, Dr. Carver generously shared his talent simply for the reward of helping others.”	Option 2: The Groundbreaking, Chance-Taking Life of George Washington Carver and Science and Invention in America This is a nicely illustrated picture book, if you don’t have time for the chapter book, linked to the left.
High schoolers can read the adult version, if desired.	The Omnivore’s Dilemma (Young Readers Edition) “What’s for dinner?” seemed like a simple question—until journalist and supermarket detective Michael Pollan delved behind the scenes. From fast food and big organic to small farms and old-fashioned hunting and gathering, this young readers’ adaptation of Pollan’s famous food-chain exploration encourages kids to consider the personal and global health implications of their food choices. In a smart, compelling format with updated facts, plenty of photos, graphs, and visuals, as well as a new afterword and backmatter, The Omnivore’s Dilemma serves up a bold message to the generation that needs it most: It’s time to take charge of our national eating habits—and it starts with you.”
	The Tree Book for Kids and Their Grown Ups This is a good overview of tree basics that also helps students learn to identify various trees they may find on a hike or around town. Each beautifully illustrated tree example discusses the tree, it’s history, etc. and has pictures to identify the leaves, flowers, buds, seeds, and so on. The book’s description says it’s for ages 8-12, but I’m an adult and I like it as a reference and tree guide. Many of the Amazon reviews also mention other adults who thought the same thing. 😉 It’s definitely for all ages! Here’s an example of a page spread about London Planetrees:
	The Biography of Rubber This book is free at the Open Library. This is another “Biography” book! This series has a good mix of geography, history, and plenty of beautiful photographs and illustrations.
	Worms Eat My Garbage, 35th Anniversary Edition: How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System: Compost Food Waste, Produce Fertilizer for Houseplants and Garden, and Educate Your Kids and Family This is an optional (but highly recommended) long-term project that will require you to set up a worm bin (which is easy and cheap to do). Worms are a great addition to a garden and are interesting to study. Feed your plants while you feed your worms your kitchen garbage!
	An Anthology of Fungi Ignore the age recommendations for this book. The pictures are beautiful, and I even enjoyed it as an adult. Find out how to identify, where to spot, and what to know about common woodland mushrooms and rare fungal finds with this beautiful book. Transportable in size and crammed with profiles of different mushrooms, An Anthology of Fungi covers toadstool species including fly agaric, porcelain fungus, velvet shank, wood blewit, and crimson waxcap, as well as lichens, brackets, and more.
	Grow Your Own Mushroom Kit (Choose one.) Note: Some kits are only available from October through April, so plan accordingly!
	Choose or make a worm composting kit (worm bin). A link is provided in the schedule if you’d like to make one.
	Grow Your Soil!: Harness the Power of the Soil Food Web to Create Your Best Garden Ever Growing awareness of the importance of soil health means that microbes are on the minds of even the most casual gardeners. After all, anyone who has ever attempted to plant a thriving patch of flowers or vegetables knows that what you grow is only as good as the soil you grow it in. It is possible to create and maintain rich, dark, crumbly soil that’s teeming with life, using very few inputs and a no-till, no-fertilizer approach. Certified permaculture designer and lifelong gardener Diane Miessler presents the science of soil health in an engaging, entertaining voice geared for the backyard grower. She shares the techniques she has used — including cover crops, constant mulching, and a simple-but-supercharged recipe for compost tea — to transform her own landscape from a roadside dump for broken asphalt to a garden that stops traffic, starting from the ground up.
	The Biography of Wheat This book is free at the Open Library. This series has a good mix of geography, history, and plenty of beautiful photographs and illustrations.
	Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas This is a picture book, but one that even some high school teachers use for their biology classes. I love the illustrations.
	The Complete Guide to Saving Seeds: 322 Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, Flowers, Trees, and Shrubs This is an unscheduled extra. 🙂 Enjoy your favorite varieties of garden plants year after year with this comprehensive guide to gathering, preparing, and planting seeds.     Authors Robert Gough and Cheryl Moore-Gough provide simple instructions that clearly explain the whole process, from basic plant biology to proper seed storage and successful propagation. Gardeners of any experience level will find all the information they need to preserve genetic diversity, cut costs, and extend the life of their favorite plants to the next generation and beyond.
	Optional: Flower/plant press You’ll need a flower press for an optional plant collection and identification project. Choose whichever one you like.

The terrific materials listed above are for Guest Hollow’s Botany Curriculum!