The Gentle Genius of Trees
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Let trees teach you everything from how to branch out to how to stay rooted in this delightful blend of nonfiction and inspirational humor by author-illustrator Philip Bunting!
What could we clever humans ever learn from trees? Find out when you take a stroll through the woods and learn a few life lessons from our foliaged friends in this truly special book filled with graphic illustrations.
With humor and heart, readers will encounter a small forest of facts. They'll explore the brilliance of trees in creating one interconnected wood-wide web that enables their community to collaborate with each other, share resources, warn of threats, and survive and thrive together.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wry humor and googly eyes animate this playful, smart overview of the scientific processes that help trees to thrive. Bunting urges gratitude for all the ways "we hairy humans," portrayed with varying skin tones, benefit from woody species, and encourages amazement for the ingenious techniques trees have adapted to grow, communicate, and support one another. Infographic-like gouache and collaged illustrations portray a wide-eyed wildlife cast described with punny language: a mycellium-twined root system shares nutrients and information via a "wood-wide web of connections" ("Can I borrow a cup of glucose?" one tree asks another), and a parent tree shades a seedling to ensure its development occurs slowly enough to bolster longevity. With concluding spreads, Bunting further proposes life lessons that humans can learn from the "gentle genius of trees" ("Grow slow, grow strong"), circling back toward a subtly conservationist message of interconnection. Ages 4–8.
