Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 02/15/2017 *Starred Review* Fascinated by plants from an early age, Karl Linné, better known today as Linnaeus, preferred the garden to the schoolroom. Later, he chose to study medicine, a discipline that, in the early 1700s, often relied on plants for healing. And in that pursuit, he found his calling. Realizing that the many different names used for each plant were making it difficult for scientists, physicians, and common folk to communicate about which specific one might cure an ailment, Linnaeus decided to name every plant and animal, and he set up an organized system to classify them. Though controversial in its day, it became the standard system of scientific classification and nomenclature, and it survives in modified form today. An environmental educator and the author of Leaflets Three, Let It Be (2014), Sanchez writes clearly in the main text about the challenges, rewards, and significance of Linnaeus’ work, leaving details about his family and the later evolution of his classification system to the informative back matter, which includes sources for the quotes appearing alongside many of the illustrations. Featuring a profusion of plants and animals and incorporating quotes from the famous naturalist, Stock’s expressive artwork brightens every page. A handsome introductory book on Linnaeus and his work. - Copyright 2017 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 03/01/2017 Gr 3–5—Born in 1707, Karl Linné was an inquisitive child who enjoyed the outdoors, loved plants, and wanted to know the names for everything. He discovered that scientists, farmers, and doctors tended to disagree with one another about the naming of flora and fauna—the same plant might have several different titles. Linné wanted to bring order to this chaos, so he set out to create a convention from which to designate plants and animals. Linné classified and named more than 12,000 species of plants and animals, and his Latin classification system was accepted and used by scientists across the globe. What had seemed an insurmountable task was completed by Linné, portrayed here as a figure with a boundless imagination and fascination for nature. In 1757, he was knighted by the king of Sweden and thus gave himself a new name, Carolus Linnaeus. Stock's impressionistic pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations are subdued, with spots of bright color, and adeptly match the content and the tone of the work. VERDICT The biographical approach to a knotty scientific subject makes this a valuable addition to STEM and biography collections.—Patricia Ann Owens, formerly at Illinois Eastern Community Colleges, Mount Carmel - Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.