Karl, Get Out of the Garden!

Book excerpt: Do you know what a Solanum caule inermi herbaceo, foliis pinnatis incises, racemis simplicibus is?* Carolus (Karl) Linnaeus started off as a curious child who loved exploring the garden. Despite his intelligence—and his mother's scoldings—he was a poor student, preferring to be outdoors with his beloved plants and bugs. As he grew up, Karl's love of nature led him to take on a seemingly impossible task: to give a scientific name to every living thing on earth. The result was the Linnaean system—the basis for the classification system used by biologists around the world today. Backyard sciences are brought to life in beautiful color. Back matter includes more information about Linnaeus and scientific classification, a classification chart, a time line, source notes, resources for young readers, and a bibliography. *it's a tomato! A handsome introductory book on Linnaeus and his work — Booklist, starred review A good introduction to a man in a class by himself — Kirkus Reviews Lends significant humanity to the naturalist — Publisher's Weekly The biographical approach to a knotty scientific subject makes this a valuable addition to STEM and biography collections — School Library Journal