Rooting for Plants: The Unstoppable Charles S. Parker, Black Botanist and Collector
by Janice N. Harrington; illus. by Theodore Taylor III
Primary    Calkins/Astra    48 pp.
8/23    9781662680199    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781662680205    $11.99

Harrington and Taylor (Buzzing with Questions, rev. 11/19) introduce the life of another pioneering Black scientist, Charles S. Parker (1882–1950). Clear, engaging prose outlines Parker’s lifelong love of plants, his desire to know “where, when, why, and how they grew,” and to help others “learn to love plants, too.” Parker not only made his mark locating, collecting, and identifying plant and fungi specimens, he also served as a mentor to Black scholars, particularly women who were underrepresented in the academic world. Clearly, that desire to help others guided him: as a young man he co-founded a newspaper focusing on jobs for Black workers and, as a First Lieutenant in WWI, petitioned for equality for Black soldiers. After the war, Parker’s research began in earnest as he collected plants across the U.S. and Canada, devised a process for preserving them, and pioneered work in mushrooms and other fungi. With an appropriately earth-toned palette, Taylor’s digital art spotlights Parker’s collection expeditions, the plants and fungi he studied, and his fieldwork with students. Appended with a scientific glossary; additional biographical information about Parker; a timeline of his life; brief biographies of six notable Black scientists (three of whom he mentored); and extensive bibliographic material.

From the July/August 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.