From Van Gogh's vibrant masterpiece to its ubiquitous presence in American crafts, from sunflower oil to sunflower seeds to The Sunflower State (Kansas), the friendly sunflower is firmly planted as an intrinsic part of our culture and our daily lives. With its sunny disposition, bright colors, and surprising versatility, it is without a doubt one of the most popular flowers around. A comprehensive guide to this remarkable flower, The Ultimate Sunflower Book features descriptions of the different species, diagrams of planting schemes, tips on growing giant sunflowers, and step-by-step instructions for creating beautiful arrangements. It also teaches readers how to dry and prepare the flowers for use in cooking and crafts and includes numerous recipes and a host of fun projects. With its gorgeous photographs, eye-catching design, and hardy jacketed paper-over-board format, The Ultimate Sunflower Book is one reference that gardeners, craft enthusiasts, flower arrangers, cooks, and all fans of the sunflower will enjoy leafing through again and again.

From iconic paintings by Vincent van Gogh to their much-spat seeds at baseball games, the massive, golden blossoms of sunflowers have become a part of our literary and visual cultures and daily lives, inspiring artists and poets and used by advertisers to promote countless products. But sunflowers are only the most recognizable members of the world’s largest family of plants, Asteraceae, which includes lettuce, chrysanthemums, asters, dahlias, and weeds. And in this book, Stephen A. Harris unearths the extraordinary history of this entire sunflower bouquet. Unraveling the interplay between human cultures and the biology of these spectacular blooms over the last six thousand years, Sunflowers explores our persistent fascination with this family and how our uses of the plants have changed over millennia. Found in almost all habitats, from the driest deserts and tallest mountains to grasslands and urban wastelands, the sunflower family includes more than 32,000 species. It produces hugely popular and economically valuable ornamental flowers, as well as familiar flavorings such as tarragon and artemesia, and its members are also used in the production of antimalarial drugs, artificial sweeteners, insecticide, and fish poisons. Illustrated with many rarely seen images of the sunflower family, this beautiful volume sheds surprising new light on these familiar, sunniest of flowers.

A beautifully written, timeless tale by Cao Wenxuan, best-selling Chinese author and 2016 recipient of the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award. Sunflower is an only child, and when her father is sent to the rural Cadre School, she has to go with him. Her father is an established artist from the city and finds his new life of physical labor and endless meetings exhausting. Sunflower is lonely and longs to play with the local children in the village across the river. When her father tragically drowns, Sunflower is taken in by the poorest family in the village, a family with a son named Bronze. Until Sunflower joins his family, Bronze was an only child, too, and hasn’t spoken a word since he was traumatized by a terrible fire. Bronze and Sunflower become inseparable, understanding each other as only the closest friends can. Translated from Mandarin, the story meanders gracefully through the challenges that face the family, creating a timeless story of the trials of poverty and the power of love and loyalty to overcome hardship.

A heartwarming celebration of all skin shades, from sun-browned to autumn-leaf-gold! Amitra and Kiki are best friends and sunflower sisters. Amitra's older sister is getting married, but when the elder relatives arrive, they start dispensing some old-fashioned and dubious advice. Luckily, Amitra's mother has a lesson or two to teach about that! With the support and empowerment of their moms, the sunflower sisters are two strong, confident girls—one South Asian the other Nigerian—finding joy in their own skin.