Plant Attack!: The Fascinating Ways Flora Defends Itself
Written by Erin Silver
Illustrated by Julie McLaughlin
Published by Orca Book Publishers
BOOK SYNOPSIS
Just like people and animals, plants need to defend themselves.
They can’t scream or run away from danger, but many have developed surprisingly cool and courageous ways to keep themselves safe from pesky bugs, hungry animals and even large-clawed crabs. Plants can stab, poison, drown and even suffocate their predators. Discover the corpse flower, which smells like a combination of rotting wounds, garlic, cheese and sour sweat. Then there is the touch-me-not balsam that explodes, flinging anything that touches it through the air. Plant Attack! The Fascinating Ways Flora Defend Themselves explores 15 different plants and the unique, and sometimes bizarre, ways they defend themselves from predators, including us.
ERIN SILVER
Erin Silver is an award-winning children’s author and freelance writer. Her books for children include Rush Hour: Navigating Our Global Traffic Jam (Blueberry Award winner), Sitting Shiva (Ontario Library Association Best Pick, Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor, Vine Award finalist, TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award finalist), Good Food, Bad Waste: Let’s Eat for the Planet, Mighty Scared: The Amazing Ways Animals Defend Themselves (nominated for the Richard Allen Chase Memorial Award), In It To Win It: Sports and the Climate Crisis (ALA best sustainability themed book 2024 and Green Earth Book Award for Children’s Non-Fiction 2025) and All Consuming: Shop Smarter for the Planet (Green Earth Book Award Honor, nominated for the Sharon Fitzhenry Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction). Several additional nonfiction titles about plants, animals and climate change are forthcoming. Erin is a sought-after speaker at schools, libraries and conferences. Her journalism work has appeared in a range of major magazines and newspapers including Owl magazine, Good Housekeeping, The Globe and Mail and The Washington Post. She also writes for The Royal Gazette (Bermuda), Costco Connections magazine and TanenbaumCHAT’s Chatter magazine. She has an MFA in creative nonfiction and a postgraduate journalism degree. For more information, visit her at ErinSilver.ca.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Website: https://erinsilver.ca
Instagram: @erinsilver1
Facebook: @erinlsilver1
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/silvererin/
Email: erin@erinsilver.ca
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Rush Hour: Navigating Our Global Traffic Jam (Orca, 2022)
Sitting Shiva (Orca, 2022)
Good Food, Bad Waste: Let’s Eat for the Planet (Orca, 2023)
Mighty Scared: The Amazing Ways Animals Defend Themselves (Orca, 2024)
In It To Win It: Sports and the Climate Crisis (Orca 2024)
All Consuming: Shop Smarter for the Planet (Orca, 2025)
Plant Attack: The Fascinating Ways Flora Defends Itself (Orca, 2025)
I Am Jewish (Beech Street Books, 2025)
Women’s Hockey Fanbook (Scholastic, 2025)
Several titles in the Game Changers Series (The Creative Company, 2025)
Several more books are forthcoming.
JULIE MCLAUGHLIN
Julie is an award-winning illustrator of numerous book covers and children’s books, including Pride Puppy!, Little Pine Cone, and Why We Live Where We Live, winner of the 2015 Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction. She was also the recipient of the Victoria Book Prize for Breaking News in 2024, and for Little Pine Cone in 2023, which won the 2023 Nature Generation Green Earth Book Award as well. Julie was raised on the Prairies and now resides on the West Coast.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Website: http://www.whatwouldjuliedraw.com
Instagram: @juliebot
Bluesky: @whatwouldjuliedraw.bsky.social
Email: julie@whatwouldjuliedraw.com
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Heroes of the Environment
Why We Live Where We Live
The Art of the Possible, Meatless?
Little Cloud, Little Pinecone
For Which We Stand, Pride Puppy!
When I Feel, What Animals Want
Fresh Air Clean Water
Breaking News
Plant Attack!
Star Sailor
Choose Happy (book 1/4 from the upcoming Feel Good, Do Good series)
