ONE MILLION TREES

A California family travels to British Columbia, where, along with a mostly French-speaking crew, they plant 1 million trees to revitalize a logged-over forest.

When author/illustrator Balouch was 10 years old, her family traveled to Canada to join a tree-planting operation. Forty years later, she recalls the remarkable experience. Readers follow young Kristen, her sisters, and their parents as they journey by seaplane to Vancouver Island, drive through backcountry, settle in to their campsite, and truck to the planting site each day for 40 days before flying home. Loving memories of the desserts Baluch helped her mother prepare for the large posse, a trusty old truck nicknamed Mad Dog, and downtime spent swimming with her siblings add a nostalgic touch. The simply written, straightforward text is rich with interesting information, offering nature-based math puzzles, a step-by-step tree-planting diagram, and French minilessons seamlessly woven into the narrative. Short asides featuring inside stories and snippets of intimate conversation between the young narrator and her family members appear in smaller print alongside the main text. The digital illustrations—rendered in a naïve art style—are busy, making for detailed spreads that beg to be pored over; they also capture the British Columbia landscape, including its distinctive flora and fauna. The tree-planting gang is surprisingly diverse for the time period, and a Native American tepee is shown amongst the campground tents. An author’s note provides further background about the project and explains the importance of old-growth forests.

An intriguing tale that will plant seeds of environmental consciousness in the upcoming generation.