The Wisdom of Trees
How Trees Work Together to Form a Natural Kingdom
by Lita Judge
Roaring Brook Press, 2021. 48 pages.
Review written March 23, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review
The Wisdom of Trees brings to a child’s level information about how trees communicate and help one another, which I learned in the book for adults, The Hidden Life of Trees, by Peter Wohlleben. It’s listed as a resource in the back.
On each spread this book has a poem in the voice of trees, a painting from an actual forest, and a sidebar explaining the concept expressed in the poem. An Author’s Note at the back explains the location for each painting.
These poems cover concepts like trees telling each other about insects or predators and responding with chemicals to drive them away, trees communicating via fungi, trees resting in the winter, and trees nurturing young saplings.
This recent discovery that trees communicate and nurture one another is one that will delight children, as it did me when I learned about it.
Here’s an example poem about the way the roots of elder trees live on.
We Are the Ghosts
My limbs and needles are gone,
and the warm body of a newborn deer
comes to rest within the ghost of my great trunk
that once touched the sky.
But underneath the soft litter
of fallen needles and dark soil, I still live,
surrounded by my kingdom
with their willingness to give.
A lovely book that will reward repeated rereadings.
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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.
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