"Describes 10 disgusting plants and what makes them gross"--Title page verso.

Not all plants smell as sweet as a rose. Carrion flowers smell like rotting flesh to attract flies and other pollinators. Others, like the Venus flytrap and Nepenthes truncata, actually eat animals! Young readers will be amazed by all of the weird and disgusting plants in this interesting read.

Presents facts about disgusting things, organized into such categories as animals, food, and the human body.

Some plants have glossy green leaves. Some have colorful flowers. Some plants have long, sharp spikes. Amazing to look at and painful to touch, cacti and other prickly plants are always a favorite with young children. This book explores how many plants use thorns or spikes to defend themselves from animals that want to eat them. When it comes to cacti, the spines of these plants are actually long, thin leaves that have adapted to keep the plants from losing water in the dry, desert environments where they live. Filled with information perfectly suited to the abilities and interests of an early elementary audience, this colorful, fact-filled volume gives readers a chance not only to learn, but also to develop their powers of observation and critical thinking. From dramatic images to high-interest facts, this book makes learning about plant bodies, defenses, and adaptations a lively and engaging experience.

"Describes 10 disgusting places and what makes them gross"--Title page verso

Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and sentence highlighting to engage reluctant readers! Science writer and plant expert Rebecca E. Hirsch presents fun and gross facts about a variety of plants along with explaining the science behind why they do what they do. Featured plants include the Venus Flytrap, an African tree that houses stinking ants to protect itself from hungry animals, a "vampire vine" that sucks nutrients from other plants, and fiendishly invasive kudzu.

William Miller details our anxious relation to basic life processes; eating, excreting, fornicating, decaying, and dying. But disgust pushes beyond the flesh to vivify the larger social order with the idiom it commandeers from the sights, smells, tastes, feels, and sounds of fleshly physicality. Disgust and contempt, Miller argues, play crucial political roles in creating and maintaining social hierarchy. Democracy depends less on respect for persons than on an equal distribution of contempt. Disgust, however, signals dangerous division.