ROOTS ARE FOOD FINDERS

Here is another attempt to tie in with those obvious classroom experiments in sprouting bean seeds and demonstrations of how root systems will absorb vegetable dye, but Branley aims at the youngest grade level yet. Beginning with a comparison of root hairs to ""the hair on your head,"" this does little more than describe, impressively, the extensive roots of various types of plants and show (via that dye experiment) that they ""collect minerals from soil."" Low's quick pen shows all those subterranean systems while managing to seem not too serious. Fair enough, though it might be just as easy to wait for one of those slightly older plant experiment books (from Selsam, et al.).