This summer the LuEsther T. Mertz Library welcomes titles from Flying Eye Books into the children’s circulating collection. Titles include tales of remarkable trees, poisonous frogs, colorful birds, funky beetles, and budding gardeners. All of the titles listed below feature refreshing and vibrant illustrations that pop right off the page.
Owen Davey’s Fanatical About Frogs and Bonkers About Beetles are impressive compilations of information and illustration. The two titles are part of a larger series by Owen Davey that include titles Mad About Monkeys, Crazy about Cats, and Smart About Sharks. As far as non-fiction goes, these are a must have. They are thrilling, colorful and informative.
Speakers Lillian Melcher and Andrea Wulf with NYBG CEO and President, Carrie Rebora Barratt.
On Friday, April 19, 2019, the Humanities Institute and NYBG’s Adult Education department welcomed a large crowd to the celebration of the 250th Anniversary of Alexander von Humboldt with bestselling author Andrea Wulf. Her last book, The Invention of Nature, won many literary awards and was on The New York Times‘ Top Ten Books list. Her new graphic novel, The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, highlights the five-year expedition Alexander von Humboldt undertook in South America. Wulf collaborated with illustrator Lillian Melcher to capture the words and images of Humboldt’s personal diary and sketches which detailed his experience of the journey.
The LuEsther T. Mertz Library is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Children’s Book Council—Children’s Book Week (April 29–May 5) with new titles, book bundles on various subjects, and more!
Children’s Book Week is a national event that first started in 1919 to promote literacy among the nation’s youth. Each year readers are invited to celebrate this week in various ways at a number of participating institutions. This year, you can visit us in the library to celebrate or check your local public library for scheduled events.
This spring the LuEsther T. Mertz Library would like to encourage young readers to try reading above their reading level. New 2019 titles added to the library’s circulating children’s collection aim to encourage readers to challenge their reading abilities, enhance vocabulary, and learn new facts about the natural world—and have fun doing it!
In When Spring Comes to the DMZ, author Uk-Bae Lee warns readers about the environmental and societal impacts of wars. The border between North and South Korea is illustrated carefully in delicate watercolors depicting juxtaposing scenes. As the seasons change along the DMZ, readers will experience the flora and fauna awaken with spring alongside series of military exercises. The people and the surrounding habitats, though impacted by the wall, remain resilient and hopeful for future reunification. The back matter offers a brief summary about the history of Korea’s split for readers who seek additional information on the topic.
Esther Jackson is the Public Services Librarian and Samantha D’Acunto is the Reference Librarian for The New York Botanical Garden.
This past spring, LuEsther T. Mertz Library staff invited several NYBG Adult Education classes to view treasures from our special collections. The classes were given tours of the Library and the Rare Book Room where they viewed special collection titles related to their class subjects.
The students from the class Orchid Next Door with Dr. Matthew Pace joined Library staff for a viewing of the First Annual Catalogue of North American herbaceous plants, orchids… (1882) by James Galen, The orchid hunters: a jungle adventure (ca. 1939) by Norman MacDonald, and many other exciting titles. The Hidden World of Lichens class with Dr. James Lendemer joined the Library staff in two sessions to view materials related to the chronological history of lichenology through various materials in the Library’s collection. Other sessions included a viewing of 17th- century bulb literature for students of Landscape Plants: Bulbs! with instructors Michael Hagen and Marta McDowell; a review of 19th-century, hand-colored floral illustrations for the students of Designing with Tropical Flowers with Bridget Vizoso; and a peek at the Library’s mounted-insect collection for the students of Entomology with Tam Nguyen.
Samantha D’Acunto and Vanessa Sellers, Humanities Institute, Mertz Library
Dr. Ina Vandebroek and Keren Alfred at the Junior Mellon Fellows Presentation
Each summer the Humanities Institute, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, welcomes Junior Mellon Fellows to conduct their own research at the New York Botanical Garden. They are invited to discover the resources held at the LuEsther T. Mertz Library, its Archives, the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium and the Garden’s Living Collections. As they prepare to leave after their summer of research, they are asked to present their findings to colleagues, NYBG staff, their institutional advisors and professors from surrounding universities, as well as an interested public audience.
On Friday, August 17th Keren Alfred, a recent graduate from Brown University, and Vanessa Sun, a current student at the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College prepared to share their findings. As an introduction to her presentation The Development of Jamaican Root Tonics, Keren Alfred offered a taste of various Jamaican tonics at the reception’s refreshment table, which was enjoyed by all. These tasty fermented beverages are used widely throughout Jamaica and Jamaican communities as health aids of various kinds, she explained. Working together with Dr. Ina Vandebroek, Matthew Calbraith Perry Associate Curator of Economic Botany and Caribbean Program Director, Keren spent the summer looking at the development of root tonics from an ethnobotanical, community-health, and cultural-historical point of view Using historical literature on Jamaican plants from the Mertz Library, Alfred set out to discover when tonics were first developed or introduced in Jamaica. She found the earliest reference to tonics to be dating back only to 1927, more recently than expected, while it was not until 1953 that the word “tonic” itself was actually used to describe the plant-based beverages Sarsaparilla smilex and Smilex aspera were among the plants singled out by Alfred’s research as key ingredients to root tonic.
Cherry trees in full bloom on Cherry Hill at the New York Botanical Garden
On April 27, 2018 the Humanities Institute hosted Japan Study Day, a day of celebrating Japanese arts and sciences in the field of natural history and garden design. Visitors were welcomed with a soft misty rain, here and there mixed with a few pink petals, as they entered the Garden that morning. Due to the unusually cold spring, the Cherry Trees happened to be at their peak bloom. It was a perfect day for the traditional celebration of ‘Sakura,’ the flowering of the Cherry Trees. Japan Study Day participants were invited to join a conversation led by a brilliant panel of speakers from around the globe. Leading the conversation was Prof. Federico Marcon, Department of East Asian Studies, Princeton University; Prof. Harmen Beukers from the Scaliger Institute, Leiden, the Netherlands and the University of Nagasaki; and Ryosuke Kondo, Ph.D. candidate from the Department of Landscape Architecture, Tokyo University.
The LuEsther T. Mertz Library is happy to introduce new nonfiction titles from Firefly Books that have been added to our children’s circulating collection. Firefly Books has been an expert in nonfiction books for adults and children since 1977. The titles below are fun, colorful, and engaging reads for all reading levels. New readers will feel comfortable easing into these nonfiction narratives and confident readers will enjoy learning about insects, birds, and jungles!
In A Wasp Builds a Nest by Kate Scarborough & Martin Camm, readers are invited to experience the construction of a wasp’s nest. Each shingled page reveals an inside look at the step-by-step progress of building the nest from start to finish—both the nest and the pages grow together. Readers will learn about wasp anatomy, reproduction, life cycle, and nest structure. From early spring to late summer, wasps keep busy building and foraging for food until it’s time to find a winter home; then the cycle repeats. This book is a great option for readers who are comfortable learning new vocabulary, as it provides so much information about wasps and their behavior.
With the new Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai‘i exhibition opening May 19, the LuEsther T. Mertz Library thought it would be fun to break out some of our existing titles and introduce some new titles that explore art, artists, and plants.
New to our collection is Meet Georgia. Author Marina Muun explores the life and works of American artist Georgia O’Keeffe in an activity book. The book invites readers to travel from New York to New Mexico with Georgia, all the while learning about the art that was inspired by the landscapes she visited. Readers are prompted to get creative with various activities. Fill out skyscrapers in the New York City skyline, illustrate the sound of music, and paint the colors of a New Mexico sunset.
It’s the 99th anniversary of the Children’s Book Council – Children’s Book Week! Children’s Book Week is a national event that first started in 1919 to promote literacy among the nation’s youth. Each year readers are invited to celebrate this week in various ways. To join in on the fun, the LuEsther T. Mertz Library would love to share exciting new titles that have recently been added to our children’s circulating collection. Visit us in the library to see fantastic titles on display April 30th to May 6th!
To kick off the celebration we would like to highlight…
Floris Books is reintroducing the works of Sibylle von Olfers and Signe Aspelin to delight a new generation! Originally, the Story of the Root Children was printed in 1906 in German. It is now in its eighth printing in English. For readers not familiar with the story, it’s a celebration of the wonders that spring and summer offer each year. Winter is over and it is time for Mother Earth to wake up the Root Children. As they wake from their sleepy slumber, the Root Children begin to prepare to emerge for spring. In their bright colors, the Root Children— Snowdrop, Forget-me-not, Daisy, Buttercup, Poppy, and their insect friends—make their way above ground. Under the warmth of the sun, they all explore forests and meadows. As spring turns to summer, and summer to autumn, the Root children are ready for bed again.
This summer the LuEsther T. Mertz Library welcomes titles from Flying Eye Books into the children’s circulating collection. Titles include tales of remarkable trees, poisonous frogs, colorful birds, funky beetles, and budding gardeners. All of the titles listed below feature refreshing and vibrant illustrations that pop right off the page. 
