Walking the World in Wonder: A Children's Herbal
By Ellen Evert Hopman
Healing Arts Press, 152 pp.

If you've been looking for a way to introduce your child to the responsible medicinal use of herbs, this is the book for you. In this botanical guide youngsters will find full descriptions and gorgeous color photos of various herbs, intriguing bits of folklore and pagan mythology, and recipes for various teas and healing poultices that supposedly make you feel good (but not too good). Poisonous plants are marked with a prominent frowny face, while the smiley-faced species (say, poppies, or certain relatives of hemp) are nowhere to be found.

Children will enjoy seeking out, gathering and mounting the pretty but furtive plants featured in the book. The folk medicines, including herbal sedatives, headache remedies and "liver tonics" seem pitched more at adults. And while the book warns kids not to ingest plants without adult supervision, this is really over-optimistic; in truth, parents will have to exert violent coercion to get their children to eat the many herbal salads and teas described here. In short, a book for the whole family.