I Am More Than Just a Weed
Author & Illustrator: Audra Azoury-Sommer
ISBN 979-8-9894237-0-5
Copyright 2023
Grades PreK-3
What’s a gardener’s biggest foe? Weeds! I’m sure many of you, like me, have pulled your fair share of weeds out of garden beds and around the yard.
Unfortunately weeds often get a bad rap.
In the book, I Am More Than Just a Weed, author and illustrator, Audra Azoury-Sommer, depicts common weeds that you might see in your own backyard, at school, or even on a forest floor.
“This was a pure passion project for me, and my goal is to help get kids engaged with the outdoors and away from excessive screen time.” – Audra Azoury-Sommer
Three cheers for that!
Helping Children Identify Common Weeds
Through rhyme and beautiful illustrations, the book creates a sensorial experience for the reader and listeners. Children learn about what weeds look like, how they disperse seeds, and even how different insects, birds, and animals rely on (or stay far away from) these weeds.
For example, on one of the pages it talks about Yarrow and how it grows in groups of tiny blossoms with yellow centers and has soft, feather-like leaves. There were moments I caught myself touching the page trying to imagine how the leaves feel.
An Interactive Reading Experience
I read the book with my two sons, ages 6 and 3.5, and it was fun to watch them engage with it. My youngest immediately focused on counting – how many insects he saw on each page, the number of four-leaf clovers – and naming the animals and bugs he saw in the pictures. Then my oldest joined in on that also talking about the different places you find the weeds (forests, fields, backyards), so it became an interactive experience, not just my kids listening to me read.
My oldest asked how rabbits get the burrs off their fur, which opened up the opportunity to explain how seed dispersal works and that plants in one place are able to grow in a new location thanks to the animals or insects they “hop” onto.
As you read the book, encourage your students to use their imagination. Perhaps before you read each page, ask children to close their eyes and imagine each weed as you read about it to them. When they open their eyes, ask if what they imagined is what they see on the page. Ask them how it would feel to get the burrs from Greater Burdock stuck on their ankles. Or what sound do they think a seed pod makes when it explodes?
PLT Activities
I Am More Than Just a Weed is a great read-aloud to pair with these PLT activities.
Early Childhood
- Best Buds from Trees & Me: Activities for Exploring Nature with Young Children: In this activity, little learners will observe seasonal changes in nature and signs of spring. Since we tend to see weeds growing most in the spring, this is a good opportunity to explore outdoors to point out new plants and weeds sprouting.
Elementary & Middle School
- Have Seeds, Will Travel from Explore Your Environment: K-8 Activity Guide: This activity for students in grades K-5 provides a wonderful lesson on various methods of seed dispersal.
- Invasive Species from Explore Your Environment: K-8 Activity Guide: Students in grades 3-8 learn what invasive species are and why they sometimes cause problems.
Megan Annis
Megan Annis
