The Stuff that Stuff is Made of – the things we make from plants

The Stuff that Stuff is Made of…

Things we make from plants

Jonathan Drori

Raxenne Manaquiz & Jiatong Liu

Magic Cat, 2025

64pp., hbk., RRP $A34.99

9781917044172

Did you know that plants are made from just two main ingredients – carbon dioxide and water?  Recently, I sat in my local hairdressing salon mesmerized by half a dozen tiny fish swimming in and around the roots of a spathiphyllum that stood shiny and healthy in a tall cylinder of water – no soil, compost or anything else – and both fish and plant seemed very happy.  (Of course, I had to try it at home – the plants are doing well, the fish not-so.) But as I read the intro of this fascinating book, one of those you don’t know you want to read until you do, and learned that plants are basically CO2 and H2O with “just a smattering” of other nutrients from the soil, it was obvious why they were thriving in just water.

And yet, apart from the food we eat, we are dependent on plants in countless other ways – some of which are explored in this new release, many of them common, and others more obscure.  Young readers will probably know that everyday stuff like tea and chocolate and sugar come from plants, but which plants give us fabric, perfumes and even the heatshield of the Space Shuttle? Why do Tasmania’s Blue Gum Eucalyptus globulus and the strange baobab Adansonia digitata each earn a place among the 30 entries? Why is there seaweed in our icecream and dandelions in our tyres? 

Packed with stunning illustrations, cross-sections and diagrams, each entry has a large double page spread packed with all sorts of information including a lot that is unexpected, that will not only intrigue young readers but give them a whole new respect for the plants around them.  They will begin to question where the things they are most familiar with originate from, understand the sustainability of items made from natural sources and perhaps appreciate that while plastic and its cousins may have been one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century, it is the curse of the 21st.  

This is one of those dip-and-delve books that will capture the imagination of any young reader with an interest in the world around them – even if all they do is put a plant in a vase of water and watch it thrive, put a white flower in a glass of water coloured with food dye, or even just sprinkle grass seed in a tray of potting mix in the shape of their initials and watch their name grow.  There are so many simple things that can start a lifelong fascination. And Spring is the perfect time to start.