In this engaging and informative picture-book biography of Carolus Linnaeus (AKA Karl von Linne), author Anita Sanchez traces her subject's life story, from his time as a garden-loving young boy, through his training as a doctor, and his struggle to find a system of naming and classification that would allow all the world's peoples to communicate about plants, animals and minerals. Linnaeus succeeded, creating a system that, with a number of important modifications, is still in use today...

One of Sweden's most famous sons, the eighteenth-century Linnaeus accomplished something quite extraordinary, single-handedly creating the modern discipline of taxonomy - the division of living things into categories, with its use of binomial nomenclature - that is still used by scientists today, more than two hundred years later. Sanchez captures Linnaeus' passion for plants (and, to a lesser extent, animals) in her narrative, and gives a good sense of how revolutionary his new system was. Apparently the pope ordered his books burnt! I found the text here both entertaining and educational, and also appreciated the accompanying artwork by illustrator Catherine Stock. The back matter - detailed notes about Linnaeus' system, a timeline, source notes, and a list for further reading - gives children lots of ideas for further exploration of the information and themes raised in the main text. Recommended to all young would-be naturalists and scientists, and to anyone looking for good picture-book biographies. ( )

This is a biography of Karl Linne who named animals and plants. It's hard to believe one man came up with the idea for Scientific Classifications of animals and plants. It's not hard to believe that scientists and leaders of the 1700s argued and disagreed with Karl. The pope even demanded that Karl's books be burned. This is a great book for little scientists and environmentalists. ( )

Picture book biography; science ( )

KARL, GET OUT OF THE GARDEN! by Anita Sanchez tells the story of naturalist Carolus Linnaeus.

Young Karl was a curious boy who loved examining plants and animals. He decided it would be useful to organize species into categories so they could be more easily identified. This young naturalist ultimately gained fame and success for this scientific work. The book concludes with additional information and sources.

With more depth than most picture books, librarians will find this biography provides a useful balance of nonfiction narrative and informational reading resource. Use this title in the science curriculum to bring alive the often boring topic of classification and naming.

To learn more about the author, go to http://anitasanchez.com/.

Published by Charlesbridge, an imprint of Random House on March 21, 2017. ARC courtesy of the publisher. ( )