It's Just a Plant: A Children's Story of Marijuana [Hardcover]

Ricardo Cortes (Author), Marsha Rosenbaum (Author)

Book Description

It's Just A Plant is a beautifully illustrated children's book that tells the tale of how a young girl learns about marijuana, the most widely-used illegal drug in the world. It is a tool for parents to use in creating conversation that educates, rather than merely frightens, their young children about cannabis use. It's Just A Plant provides honest and helpful information about the plant that puts the safety of children before politics.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3–It would be helpful to have a book explaining who uses the substance and why, possible reactions, responsibilities, and legal implications, but this picture book is not it. Jackie wakes up late at night and finds her parents smoking pot. They give a simple explanation and promise to talk to her about it the next day, which happens to be Halloween. The awkwardly drawn, full-page art shows Jackie and her mom in odd costumes riding their bikes to see the marijuana farmer, and then to a doctor who explains that some adults use the drug, but that children absolutely should not. When they pass some stores and the child recognizes the now-familiar sweet smell, she sees a group of African-American men smoking. Implausibly, they stop and explain some details about marijuana and hold still when the police arrive. Even more surprising is the officer who explains why the drug is illegal and that people are trying to change the laws; he then lets the young men go with a simple warning.–Susan Lissim, Dwight School, New York City
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

A delightful book. It gives a glimpse of what enlightened drug education could be. -- Andrew Weil, MD

Funny.. offbeat... a riot! -- The New York Post

I highly recommend this little book... It's a jewel. -- Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director, Drug Policy Alliance

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Magic Propaganda Mill (January 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0976011700
• ISBN-13: 978-0976011705
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 9.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,546,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ricardo Cortés has illustrated books about marijuana, electricity, the Jamaican bobsled team, and Chinese food. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, the Village Voice, the San Francisco Chronicle, and on the O'Reilly Factor and CNN.

He lives in Brooklyn, NY, where he is working on a book about coffee, Coca-Cola, and cocaine.

To see more of his work, visit: Rmcortes.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wish this book was around when i was a kid, May 29, 2006

By 

T. Goldberg - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: It's Just a Plant: A Children's Story of Marijuana (Hardcover)

i am 20 years old and a product of the DARE program. when i first read this book, the only thing that went thru my mind is, "gee, this would have been a thousand times more helpful than the ever failed scare tactic." for those who have no clue what DARE taught my generation, you're not alone. i have no clue what i got out of DARE, except an uneducated police officer going on about how chalk dust from the black board looks like coke, and cartoons of bunnies on drugs that scared the s*** out of me. and today, i cannot say i know one person my age who hasn't smoked pot at least once.

now i'll tell you why i do not drink. because i was well informed what alcohol was and that although legal for parents, very bad for young growing minds. i always knew that, i knew it when i was 6, and it certainly didn't make me want to drink more. learning about pot the way i did only made me a million times more curious, because the information was so biased it lost its relevancy.

i think the best part about this book is its take on parenting. don't close the door on your child when they ask you the important questions, otherwise they'll have to find it out on their own eventually and there is no chance it will be to taught to them the way you wanted them to know it. make sure they have all the facts.

i think most of us can agree marijuana should be legal, atleast medicinally, and the prohibition of it is outdated and full of conspiracy. hemp is our greatest crop, it can be made into just about any kind of product. imagine how many trees we could have saved if the paper industry just backed off.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars interesting, May 4, 2008

By 

elfdart - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's Just a Plant: A Children's Story of Marijuana (Paperback)

the plot behind this book is basically stated in the title, it's attempting to get rid of the boogeyman stories surrounding marijuana because it's just a plant. this little girl goes around and learns about marijuana, what it is, where it comes from (a plant, grown by a farmer like other plants), a history about it, a doctor's perspective and so on. it isn't promoting marijuana or encouraging children to use it, as i would suppose would be one of the first suppositions to pop into one's head when they hear about a book like this, in fact there's even a part in the book where some guys get arrested for using marijuana. it's purpose is to help educate children on just what marijuana is.

i think this book is beneficial because people fear what they are ignorant of and people abuse the forbidden. as an example, when i was younger, probably around 5 or 6, my nonno would put a few drops of wine in my sprite at dinner time. alcohol was never forbidden to me and if i wanted some all i had to do was ask (of course i wasn't given a whole lot, but it's the principle that's important). as a result of this alcohol was never a big deal to me as it was to some of my friends and while they were getting pissed drunk at 13, i would drink an appropriate amount so as to not even get dizzy or abstain all together. the point of the story is that the forbidden is very attractive, and while we all know this, this knowledge isn't put to good use very often. of course there must be forbidden things, that comes with having even an inkling of some sort of morality, which even the most 'amoral' person is guilty of possessing, but to make forbidden something that need not be so is foolish in my eyes. marijuana is less harmful than a lot of glorified substances in society that are much more harmful to a person's health. people fear marijuana for reasons that aren't true, or for no other reason than someone told them it was bad, without any basis.

don't get me wrong, this isn't some tirade of how 'marijuana's so great' or 'kids should all be smoking marijuana' or similar such lines of thought. i believe that all children should have the power of education to help them assess the world and that that education is important is because all children will come into contact with marijuana at one point or another in their lives (some much earlier than others), and i would prefer that they not see it as a big deal. marijuana is just a plant, a very misunderstood plant, and we should be able to see marijuana as just that, a plant, like corn and tomatoes, not through the jaded perception of society that would have us believe it's some scary boogeyman.

30 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Open your chute!, March 4, 2006

By 

Spider's Web (Charlestown, Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's Just a Plant: A Children's Story of Marijuana (Hardcover)

The mind is much like a parachute, it works better when it is open. One shouldnt base one's view with mere mainstream propaganda alone. I believed it for 24 years until I did a little research of my own. If you really want to give your opinion based on accurate information, do a little investigating and discover for yourself. You will thank me for it.