This book is a simple, but fun way to talk about the history of corn. There are lots of fun facts about corn embedded into the story line. They even talk about pink corn!

This picture book explains how the crop of corn came to the U.S. and all about corn. What we can make of it, how it grows, etc.

This is a good example of an informational book because all the information is true. It explains what role corn has played in history, and how it has spread over the earth. I like it because of all the diagrams and timelines that kids can understand. Media is Acrylic

I was pretty disturbed by how "pro corn industry" this book is. The author's point of view was decidedly one-sided. While it does a decent job of emphasizing its Native American history and illustrating the 'anatomy' of corn, it completely ignores the environmental and political implications. The books says "every fifty pounds of dent corn: that cow eats, it gains five pounds; makes enough sweetener for about 350 glasses of soda; produces two and one-fourth gallons of ethanol, enabling a car to travel from Baltimore to Washington, D.C."

But it says nothing whatsoever about the environmental impacts of so much land use dedicated to corn used for cattle, nor that this kind of feed is not natural for cattle and causes health problems, nor that the U.S. government subsidizes these crops to feed America's gluttonous over-consumption of red meat in the first place. Likewise, how could the fact that it sweetens 350 glasses of soda be a good thing when we already have the highest rates of diabetes and obesity around the world?Furthermore, scientific studies have shown that corn ethanol is NOT the most efficient biofuel; biofuels made from algae, for one, are far more efficient but progress with other biofuels has been stunted specifically because of the agriculture industry's continued lobbying for corn subsidies.

Additionally, the book presents corn in its multitude of uses and attempts to show how many varieties of corn exist, but talks nothing of how the genetic variation of corn has actually significantly dwindled and some strains are now genetically extinct due to large-scale monoculture farming techniques and genetically modified crops used by companies like Monsanto.

The illustrations in the book were beautiful but regretfully mask the reality of the corn industry. I also found the endorsements of this book by the NYT Book Review and Kirkus Reviews to be deeply disturbing in their wholesale acceptance of the "greatness" of corn. If I were teaching this book I would have my students read it first, then watch "King Corn" and "Fast Food Nation" and then read the book a second time and compare/contrast the presentation of info in all three. ( )

Cheerfully illustrated. The text has a breezy, informal tone, which makes it very accessible. My only quibble--wish the author had touched on the problem of corn monoculture and the environmental problems of the heavy pesticide use needed to support it. ( )