Ninja Plants: Survival and Adaptation in the Plant World by Wiley Blevins is a non fiction book for children and adults. What can communicate but has no mouth, and can attack but has no hands? A plant! You might love the beauty and fragrance of flowers, but plants are far more complex than meets the eye. Some plants have ways of luring insects for pollination. Others mimic the look of the female insects whose male counterparts they want to attract. The Venus flytrap eats insects and other small animals for extra nourishment. You might see some of these ninja plants with their sneaky and deceitful ways in your own backyard. These plants might even be sitting on a windowsill in your home. This fascinating world of ninja plants is waiting to be discovered.

Ninja Plants: Survival and Adaptation in the Plant World is a well-written and organized book that informs and entertains. I have always been fascinated by plants, the more unusual the better. This book feed that curiosity and taught be a few new things along the way. I think it is fairly text heavy, but there are some stunning images through out the pages to break up the information. The text and images were interesting and informative- holding my interest and exploring the wide variety of plants around the world that have adapted in dangerous and amazing ways to survive. I really enjoyed the conclusion, and think it a valuable read.

Due to the amount and difficulty of the text I think Ninja Plants: Survival and Adaptation in the Plant World would be best suited for middle grade or older readers. Younger readers that are advanced or very interested in the material would be engaged and enjoy the read as well. There are some very interesting, sometimes funny or gross, bits of information that will keep the motivated or engaged reader turning the pages and reading. A good resource and read for school and public libraries.

Plants are absolutely extraordinary - they're adaptable, tough, and sometimes quite diabolical! "Ninja Plants" does a great job of pointing out the various survival mechanisms developed by various species of plants. Definitely recommend for a YA/Middle Grade nonfiction collection, and for any kids of teens interested in botany...or any kids or teens who think plants are "boring." Plants are not boring. Plants can be ninjas.

It has really been a week. I am feeling so far behind on reading but I have been out late almost every night this week. One more week til April vacation and then maybe I can catch up a bit.

When I requested this book I was really hoping for something similar to Zombie Makers by Rebecca Johnson. While the information in this book was interested I found it too dense for recreational reading. I wish the author had focused on fewer plants that had these features and written less text. I also did not like the fact that the introduction was sooooo long. I usually read on my elliptical in the morning for about 15 minutes just to get the blood flowing. The introduction took me that whole 15 minutes. Too long.

Young readers will be fascinated by the unique and dangerous adaptions plants have made to survive.