Karl, Get Out of the Garden!: Carolus Linnaeus and the Naming of Everything

This beautifully written and illustrated biography is an inspiration for kids, parents, and educators. Most of us know the scientific name for our species—Homo sapiens. Few, though, may have heard about the great Swedish scientist Karl Linne, who classified more than 12,000 animal and plant species, and bestowed them with 2-word Latin names (including the above for humans). Not only does this book inform about the great impact that Karl Linne’s work had on science—we use his “binomial nomenclature” today—it also inspires with Karl’s love of nature and passion for discovery.Karl’s story will connect with kids and their parents—it shows the joy of following one’s bliss, as Karl was fascinated by plants and animals since childhood. Yet like in modern-day families, Karl and his parents struggled over possible career choices for him. Eventually, Karl’s parents approved of his desired profession, with his father wisely declaring “What you enjoy doing, you will do well.”Educators may also admire Karl’s progressive efforts to deliver outdoor educational experiences for his students: “Karl became a teacher. Perhaps he remembered how bored he had been in the classroom, because he used his garden as a living textbook, filled with thousands of plants.”The warm and beautifully detailed illustrations complement Karl’s captivating life story. A great book for school and home!

This book has beautiful illustrations and gives a nice overview of the life of Karl Linne. It tells about how he was as a child, how he came to undertake the mission of naming every living thing, the controversy that ensued, and how he taught hundreds of students, who carried his names into the world. I thought it was a good story about how one man had an impact on all of science.

Great book for introducing Kingdoms and classification to young students. I love the artwork, and I love that book is based on facts all verifiable in the several pages of bibliography at the end of the book. This book is fabulous!

We all love this book. This is a must have for an budding botanists or Farm to School collections.

We studied Carl Linnaeus as part of fine arts in a homeschool co-op. I bought this book for us to learn more about him, I highly recommend it.Readable, enjoyable, with more info at the back about species classification.

I will be using this book for many homeschooling years to come!

Easy to read and informative. Makes a good read-aloud while your children are doing an art project based on what Linnaeus did.

Nice addition to the library at our refuge.

Un libro davvero ben illustrato e chiaro. Difficile trovare un libro per bambini su Carlo Linneo e renderlo accessibile anche ai piccoli. Una bella scoperta.