"Plants Alive" is designed to get amateurs interested in exploring the plant world around them and to give them the skill to record their observations through guided nature journaling. It then offers, to those who have been captivated by the field, advanced techniques for study. The book can be very useful in guiding science students into real science activities in rural, suburban, and urban environments. The authors questioning format will stimulate curiosity and entice readers to thing about possible answers. For a variety of reasons, educators will embrace this book. First of all, it is a course in botany without any of the stigmas attached to textbooks. Also unlike texts, "Plants Alive " enables students to do real science, and not just read about it. Experiments and exercised pass off as hands-on science abound, but opportunities for students to do real science and report their findings to the scientific community are rare.