Book Review
The Teeth of the Lion: The Story of the Beloved and Despised Dandelion
by Anita Sanchez
Published by McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company
Anita Sanchez is Senior Environmental Educator at the Five Rivers Environmental Education Center near Albany, New York. She has written a highly informative book about the humblest of garden herbs (often treated as a weed), the dandelion.
In her easy to read style, she outlines many of the benefits of this little plant. It is packed with vitamins and minerals, full of antioxidants, may help people detoxify and heal from cancer and other diseases, and is great at breaking up poor soil and extracting nutrients from difficult
soil. Ecologically, it is an important plant in the recovery of damaged systems, and can serve as a marker for the health of an ecosystem. Dandelions also provide nectar to bees, butterflies, and birds at times when other flowers are not blooming.
Ms. Sanchez writes compellingly and simply about this wonderful plant, letting her environmental passion shine through while educating the reader about dandelions. She gives many good reasons why the dandelion should be a welcome visitor to your garden, rather than treated as an unwelcome
interloper.
“Man fed on mustard could not be more sour and insensate.” -Plautus