“It’s alive…it’s alive!” Those words popped into my head on a recent walk through Central Park as I stared up at a tree. I’ve always known intellectually that trees are living, breathing organisms, but it can be easy to forget—especially for city dwellers who don’t encounter them regularly. However, I’ve started thinking of them in a new light, in large part because of Tera Kelley’s Listen to the Language of the Trees: A Story of How Forests Communicate Underground (Dawn Publications). One of our Best Picture Books of 2022, it’s an unforgettable tale of natural disasters, survival, and hope. Faced with catastrophes, from a devastating storm to a swarm of ravenous beetles, a forest of Douglas firs fights back with everything it has: an interconnected network of roots that allows trees to send one another nutrients, warnings, and more. Illustrator Marie Hermansson’s dynamic use of angles and perspective gives this story an epic feeling.
The book is a necessary reminder that trees aren’t merely a beautiful backdrop to the natural landscape; they’re active, involved, and crucial parts of our ecosystem. It’s also a gripping tale that will leave readers eager to learn more. Luckily, they have plenty of options, like Philip Bunting’s The Gentle Genius of Trees (Crown, Jan. 31). With round saucer eyes but no mouths, Bunting’s trees have hilariously solemn countenances; the author/illustrator deftly blends whimsy with clearly elucidated facts on how trees create glucose, communicate with one another, and nurture saplings. His affection for the subject is evident as he urges readers to channel their inner trees: help those in need, persevere through tough times, and “grow slow, grow strong.”
A spiritual successor to Joyce Kilmer’s poem “Trees,” Emma Carlisle’s What Do You See When You Look at a Tree? (Templar/Candlewick, 2022) takes a contemplative approach. Readers who respond to the titular question with “leaves and twigs and branches” should look again; a tree “moves and breathes and dances” and provides a home for animals. Though there’s backmatter with hard facts, this gracefully illustrated work is more concerned with helping readers forge an emotional connection with trees. Carlisle asks children to ponder whether trees feel joy or sadness, to consider what a tree might have experienced over its long life, and to wonder who will one day love the saplings that have yet to even sprout.
Trees also help define communities both rural and urban, as demonstrated by Anne Wynter’s Nell Plants a Tree (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, Jan. 31), illustrated by Daniel Miyares, and Shira Boss’ The City Tree (Clarion/HarperCollins, April 4), illustrated by Lorena Alvarez. Wynter’s story weaves back and forth in time between Nell as a young girl, planting and tending to a seed, and Nell as a grandmother, watching her children and grandchildren enjoy the literal and metaphorical fruits of the now flourishing pecan tree. In this eloquent tale, the tree has become an integral part of this loving Black family, linking older generations to new.
In Boss’ book, the arrival of a tree on an urban block devoid of greenery transforms a community. Dani, the story’s young protagonist, is now awoken by birdsong rather than garbage trucks, and the tree’s leafy canopy shelters Dani and others in hot weather. Alvarez’s palette becomes more saturated and vibrant over the course of the narrative—an effective visual metaphor for the ways in which this new addition has enriched the neighborhood. Significantly, Boss also shows locals taking action when they see litterbugs mistreating the tree: The relationship between humans and trees is clearly a two-way street.
Mahnaz Dar is a young readers’ editor.
