Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Beautifully illustrated, fact-packed intro to plant kingdom.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 4+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
WHAT'S INSIDE A FLOWER takes us into the inner life of plants from seed to sprout to flower and back to seed again. Along the way, scientist/author/illustrator Rachel Ignotofsky shows lots of people enjoying the outdoors and appreciating the beauty around them. She also offers lots of scientific detail about nature and ecosystems, as earthworms, bees, and other helpers support plants as they grow and thrive, plus a rich archive of books, websites, and other resources for learning more at the ned of the book.
Is It Any Good?
Rachel Ignotofsky's love and fascination with science pops from every page of this enticing, colorful introduction to flowers, plants, nature, and why it's important to all of us to help them thrive. What's Inside a Flower?'s brilliantly colored, lavishly detailed images and info-packed text is lively, engaging, and nonthreatening to little kids who aren't ready for the science. There's so much to reward little readers on each return visit for years to come on each info-packed page. Even adults will appreciate the frame-worthy art and top notch science.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about plants, the outdoors, and nature, and how they all enrich our lives. Do books like What's Inside a Flower? help you notice things you didn't really look at before (like flowers) and want to take a closer look?
What kind of flowers do you see around your house and neighborhood? When you go visit someone, do they have different flowers from the ones you're used to? What were they, and how did you like them?
Have you grown flowers from seed, at school or at home? What did you plant, and how did they do? Do you have plans for next year?
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : Rachel Ignotofsky
- Genre : Picture Book
- Topics : STEM
- Character Strengths : Curiosity
- Book type : Non-Fiction
- Publisher : Crown Books for Young Readers
- Publication date : February 2, 2021
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 4 - 7
- Number of pages : 48
- Available on : Paperback, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Award : Common Sense Selection
- Last updated : September 18, 2025
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate