{"id":45863,"date":"2026-04-14T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=45863"},"modified":"2026-03-26T15:24:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T22:24:54","slug":"beautiful-birds-the-botanical-treasury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/beautiful-birds-the-botanical-treasury\/","title":{"rendered":"Beautiful Birds \/ The Botanical Treasury"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BEAUTIFUL BIRDS \u2013 FLY FROM A TO Z WITH DOZENS OF FEATHERED FRIENDS<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Beautiful Birds<\/em>
by Jean Roussen (author) and Emmanuel Walker (illustrator)
Flying Eye Books
2015, 56 pages, 8.9 x 12.2 x 0.4 inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Beautiful Birds<\/em>, author Jean Roussen and illustrator Emmanuel Walker fly through the alphabet with dozens of feathered friends. It begins, of course, with \u201cA is for albatross, the admiral of the skies,\u201d and progresses all the way to \u201cZ is for zos-ter-o-pi-dae\u2026\u201d with details about all kinds of avians in between. The writing brims with clever rhymes and colorful words (ogling orbs, polychrome quills) making it delightful to read out loud. If I had to guess, I\u2019d say Roussen is a fan of E.B. White\u2019s idea that \u201cchildren are game for anything\u2026 They love words that give them a hard time, provided they are in a context that absorbs their attention.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walker\u2019s vibrant illustrations give kids all the context they need. His graphic, full-bleed drawings feel like those of mid-century masters Saul Bass and Charlie Harper. As an added bonus, the book\u2019s design is also gorgeous. It\u2019s bound in a neon salmon linen, with patterned endpapers to match. The neon color can be found on almost every page in varying doses, giving the optical effect of spying a ruffle of feathers in the wild. \u2013 Sara Distin at Tinybob<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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THE BOTANICAL TREASURY CELEBRATES 40 OF THE WORLD\u2019S MOST FASCINATING PLANTS<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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The Botanical Treasury : Celebrating 40 of the Most Fascinating Plants through Historical Art and Manuscripts<\/em>
by Christopher Mills (editor)
University of Chicago Press
2016, 176 pages, 8.5 x 11 x 1.6 inches (softcover in clamshell box)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy on Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, England has just come out with a sumptuous collection of \u201c40 of the world\u2019s most fascinating plants.\u201d What makes them the \u201cmost fascinating\u201d? For some it\u2019s their appearance or structure, for others it might be their medicinal properties or economic impact. But from the bizarre-looking banksia to the quinine-packed cinchona to the functional bottle gourd, what they all have in common is a fascinating story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Botanical Treasury<\/em>, which comes in a richly textured cloth-covered box along with 40 reproduced frameable prints, devotes four pages to each plant. Each entry includes an interesting tale pertaining to the plant along with copies of historical drawings, photos, letters, maps, journal entries and newspaper clippings. Most of the stories are about the naturalists and explorers who hunted for and studied these plants, but the book also celebrates the plants themselves, highlighting their unique features, uses, and capabilities. This makes a gem of a gift for any botanical nerd. \u2013 Carla Sinclair<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Issue No. 113<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13684,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[31],"tags":[2398],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45863"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45863"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45883,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45863\/revisions\/45883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}