Miss Lady Bird's Wildflowers: How a First Lady Changed America

Appelt and Hein beautifully portray the hurt of death and the joy of life. The colors evoke Spring during Winter and remind us of our responsibility to both preserve and enjoy the flowers of our state. This book would be great for learning about L.B.J., as an introduction to studying flowers, or

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simply for a good read.

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A very interesting biography of Ladybird and all of the wonderful work that she did. I learned a lot from this book and I think it presents Ladybird's story in a wonderful student friendly fashion.

I wasn't really in the mood for another history/ biography picture-book, but since I'm a big fan of Kathi Appelt, I had to get this from the library system.  One copy in all of rural NV and in mint condition.  Too bad - it's a beautiful book that deserves a wider audience.  Appelt does have the

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talent to bring the story of Lady Bird's childhood influences, and then efforts on behalf of natural beauty, alive.  Hein's art is bright & clean, colorful & crisp.  A list of flowers that can be found in the pictures is one appendix, the other is a note about the Wildflower Center in Texas with a suggestion that we check out their website.  If you appreciate Highway Beautification or preservation of native plants, I highly recommend this book.

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In this lovely picture-book biography, author Kathi Appelt and illustrator Joy Fisher Hein, both natives of Texas, tell the story of Claudia Alta Taylor, better known to America and the world as Lady Bird Johnson, the First Lady of the United States from 1963 through 1969. Born in 1912, just

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outside the village of Karnak, Texas, she got her unusual nickname from a childhood nanny, and she grew up with a great love of wildflowers. The Texas Bluebell, in particular, brought Lady Bird comfort after the death of her mother. Meeting and falling in love with Lyndon Baines Johnson while a student at the University of Texas, Lady Bird joined him in his life in Washington, D.C., first as the wife of a congressman, then as Second Lady, when Johnson was Vice President, and finally as First Lady. She worked consistently on programs to clean up and beautify public spaces, from parks to freeways, and the Highway Beautification Act of 1965 was informally named after her, being known as "Lady Bird's Bill." Many years later, after the death of her husband, Lady Bird helped to found the National Wildflower Research Center, now named after her, outside Austin, Texas...

Although familiar with the figure of Lady Bird Johnson, and aware of her importance to the Highway Beautification Act - there's an amusing but rather impolite joke about this, in the film Good Morning, Vietnam - I actually knew very little about her life, going in to Miss Lady Bird's Wildflowers: How a First Lady Changed America. I sought out the book because an online friend had reviewed it positively, and am glad I did - thank you, Kathryn! - as I found it informative, engaging, and beautiful. The narrative here really focuses on Lady Bird's lifelong love for flowers, and it does a good job of explaining why that love was so strong. I was particularly happy to learn of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and its role in research and conservation, as I think this highlights the important legacy of this woman's work, which I have sometimes seen dismissed as merely decorative, and therefore somehow superficial. I have enjoyed other books from author Kathi Apelt before, so I was not surprised to find the text here so engaging, but this was my first encounter with illustrator Joy Fisher Hein, and her artwork was something of a revelation. The illustrations here were just beautiful, with a gorgeous color palette, and a style that reminded me of Claire A. Nivola, which is surely a high compliment. I will definitely look for more of Hein's work, and for other picture-books about America's First Ladies, which is not a topic I have explored that deeply, in my reading. Recommended to young flower lovers, and to picture-book readers who enjoy biography or are interested in the history of conservation.

Addendum: I was surprised to see a critical review of Hein's artwork mentioning that all of the non Euro-American characters were depicted in a stereotypical fashion - the African-American nanny who named Lady Bird, the Mexican mariachi band playing during the scene from her Mexican honeymoon, the Japanese ladies in traditional kimono at the cherry tree planting in Washington - as these were scenes that actually occurred during the subject's life. Lady Bird did have an African-American nanny, she most likely experienced a mariachi band while on honeymoon in Mexico, and she most certainly planted a cherry tree together with a Japanese woman wearing a kimono. There's photographs documenting the latter, just as there are more recent photographs of Michelle Obama with a kimono-clad Japanese woman, viewing a cherry tree. Is the artist meant not to depict these true-to-life scenes, because this reviewer imagines they are stereotypical? What about all of the other non Euro-American characters in the book? For my own part, I liked the fact that although the main cast of characters - Lady Bird and her friends and family - were all Euro-American, Hein depicted a diverse range of people in many of the public scenes. When Lady Bird is walking beside the polluted Potomac River, children of all backgrounds are playing nearby, while on the page which discusses Lady Bird's belief that all children should be plant caretakers, we see young gardeners of all races depicted. Likewise, when discussing the scientists and ecologists who do their research at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, a diverse range of people are shown.

As a general rule, I try not to respond directly to other amateur reviewers, in my own reviews, although I have always felt that professional reviews were fair game. That said, I found this other review so misleading, that I felt I needed to address the point it raised, lest potential readers be put off from picking up this excellent book.

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