VEGETABLES FROM STEMS AND LEAVES

This twin to The Carrot and Other Root Vegetables (1971) yields the same step-by-step photographic revelations of familiar vegetables in unfamiliar stages of growth. The vocabulary, however, may raise some questions, as the use of terms like ""set seed"" and the references to fruits in the botanical sense (""A package of lettuce seed contains fruits without the parachutes"") are not self-explanatory. The potato (it grows, not on the roots, but on underground stems called stolons) and the onion (the bulb is made of proto-leaves) are the most surprising and illuminating inclusions, but more vegetables are introduced (with less detail about each) than in previous Selsam volumes. Still an eye-opening visual experience, particularly for the city child, but perhaps used to best advantage by an informed teacher.