Tag Archive for: trees

,

Tree Full of Wonder | Anna Smithers

 

This delightful children’s book introduces young readers to the magnificence and importance of trees. Through lyrical prose and gorgeous illustrations, Tree Full of Wonder explores the many ways that trees enrich our lives—providing shade, food, homes for wildlife, and even helping to combat climate change. Blending wonder with practical knowledge, children will appreciate trees not just as background elements of nature, but as vital, living beings that sustain ecosystems. It’s a gentle yet powerful reminder of the interconnectedness of all life and a call to protect these natural treasures.

Perfect for bedtime stories or independent exploration. Suitable for ages 3-8.

,

Arboreality | Rebecca Campbell

 

Campbell’s brilliant cli-fi novella weaves an intergenerational story of human resilience against the backdrop of ongoing ecological collapse. Rooted in the dire consequences of unchecked colonial capitalism, the story juxtaposes grief and loss alongside survival and regeneration. A professor rescues books from the flooded and collapsing McPherson Library. A man plants fireweed on the hillside of his depopulated Vancouver Island suburb. An aspiring luthier poaches the last ancient Sitka spruce to make a violin for a child prodigy. Campbell’s astonishing vision pulls the echoing effects of small acts and intimate moments through this interconnected story of how a west coast community survives the ravages of climate change.

A gentle and thought-provoking narrative that lingers long after the last page.

,

The Man Who Planted Trees | Jim Robbins

 

“When is the best time to plant a tree? Twenty years ago. The second best time? Today.”—Chinese proverb

One day, David Milarch, a Michigan nurseryman derailed by alcoholism, had a near-death experience from which he emerged with the conviction that human life was in jeopardy because trees were dying. The solution, he understood, was to clone the champion trees of the world—the largest, the hardiest, the ones that had survived millennia and were most resilient to climate change—and create a kind of Noah’s ark of tree genetics. Twenty years later, his team had successfully cloned some of the world’s oldest trees including giant redwoods and sequoias, and grown seedlings from the oldest tree in the world, the bristlecone pine Methuselah. Milarch’s absorbing story, masterfully told by New York Times journalist Jim Robbins, is a moving account of one man’s mission to protect the forests that are essential to human survival.

The Magic and Mystery of Trees | Jen Green

 

From towering branches to the tangled roots beneath the soil, this fact-packed book illustrates for young readers how every part of a tree plays a vital role—not just in its own survival, but in the health of the whole forest. The Magic and Mystery of Trees showcases tree species from around the world, as well as the creatures that depend on these vital ecosystems. And best of all, kids will find out how they can help—starting with planting a tree of their own.

 

,

The Heart of the Woods | Wyl Menmuir

 

In his follow-up to the award-winning The Draw of the Sea, Wyl Menmuir weaves personal reflection, ecological insight, and historical context into a rich exploration of the complex relationship between humans and the natural world. Menmuir, also an acclaimed novelist, beautifully captures the emotional and symbolic weight that forests carry in our collective consciousness through myth, ritual and folklore. But while deeply contemplative, the book is also a call to action, and a must-read for anyone concerned about Britain’s threatened wildlife habitats.

The Great Kapok Tree | Lynne Cherry

A man enters the Amazon rainforest with the intent of chopping down a Kapok Tree. But while he sleeps, the forest’s residents whisper in his ear about the secrets of the rainforest. And soon enough, he comes to realize how “all living things depend on one another.” Kids aged four through eight will love reading about the Amazon’s ecology and the fascinating creatures who live there.

 

Read our Librarian’s top climate choices for children here.

Call Me Tree / Llámame árbol | Maya Christina Gonzalez

Call Me Tree - Maya Christina Gonzalez

This bilingual adventure teaches young readers what they have in common with trees: every single one is unique, has roots, and reaches towards the sky. Not only does the book deliver an ecological message, but it also contains a Spanish lesson. The colorful illustrations will keep kids aged five through nine extremely engaged.

 

Read our Librarian’s top climate choices for children here.

The Treeline | Ben Rawlence

The Arctic treeline is the frontline of climate change, where the trees have been creeping towards the pole for fifty years. These vast swathes of forests, which encircle the north of the globe in an almost unbroken green ring, comprise the world’s second largest biome.

Scientists are only just beginning to understand the astonishing significance of these northern forests for all life on Earth. Six tree species – Scots pine, birch, larch, spruce, poplar and rowan – form the central protagonists of Ben Rawlence’s story. In Scotland, northern Scandinavia, Siberia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland, he discovers what these trees and the people who live and work alongside them have to tell us about the past, present and future of our planet.

At the treeline, Rawlence witnesses the accelerating impact of climate change and the devastating legacies of colonialism and capitalism. But he also finds reasons for hope. Humans are creatures of the forest; we have always evolved with trees. The Treeline asks us where our co-evolution might take us next. Deeply researched and beautifully written, The Treeline is a blend of nature, travel and science writing, underpinned by an urgent environmental message.

Living With Trees | Robin Walter

Trees and woods offer great potential for rebuilding our wider relationship with nature, reinforcing local identity and sustaining wildlife.

‘I’d really like to ask some kindly philanthropist to buy a copy of this book for every household in the UK. Very important, beautifully produced, a bible of Common Ground’s research and ongoing progressive intent as regards wood, forestry, biodiversity and trees as community in this country.’ ~ Max Porter, guest contributor to March 2022’s Rebel Library Hot Reads

We need more trees and woods in our lives, to lock up carbon, to mitigate flooding, to help shade our towns and cities and bring shelter, wildlife and beauty to places.

Living with Trees is a cornucopia of practical information, good examples and new ideas that will inspire, guide and encourage people to reconnect with the trees and woods in their community, so we can all discover how to value, celebrate and protect our arboreal neighbours.

 

Read more of Max’s recommendations in March 2022’s Rebel Library Hot Reads

Purchase Living With Trees at Hive Books

The Overstory | Richard Powers


‘This is not our world with trees in it. It’s a world of trees, where humans have just arrived.’ This is the story of a group of strangers, each summoned in different ways by the natural world, brought together to save it from catastrophe.

An artist inherits a hundred years of photographic portraits, all of the same doomed American chestnut. A hard-partying undergraduate electrocutes herself, dies, and is sent back into life by creatures of air and light. A hearing- and speech-impaired scientist discovers that trees are communicating with one another.

Moving through history and across landscapes, this tree-filled novel unfurls our potential to destroy or restore the natural world.

‘This novel, which won the Pulitzer Prize, begins with the mass death of trees: the North American chestnut blight, which killed up to 4 billion trees at the start of the 20th century. While this book is very much about people – weaving together the interconnected stories of nine human protagonists – trees are the real subjects (not the objects) of the narrative, and Powers takes the reader deep into their inner lives, following the mycelial threads that link the human to the arboreal. This book genuinely changed how I saw the world: for weeks after finishing it, I could hardly walk down a street without stopping to stare at a tree, awestruck and dumbfounded, astonished that I could ever have taken their extraordinary presence for granted.’ Nick Hunt, guest contributor to May 2022’s Rebel Library Recommends

 

See more from Penguin Vintage Earth