Raymond Huber (text) and Sandra Severgnini (illustrator), Tree Beings, Exisle Publishing, October 2020, 96pp., RRP $34.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781925820539
The Foreword by Dr Jane Goodall provides the reason for this book. She shows us that trees provide life, fight climate change, need to be protected and have many likenesses to human beings. One young woman sat up on a giant redwood for two years to save it from the axe; trees suck up CO2 and breathe out oxygen; and wild animals depend on them. We are given facts about the tallest, biggest, oldest and widest tree, the person who planted a million of them, and how to befriend them.
People who have devoted their life’s work to saving and caring for trees are described, and how trees communicate with each other is shown. What you and I must do to save the trees is proposed. There is a guide to revealing the puzzles, a list of references and a glossary. The text is straightforward and simple enough for the older primary and detailed enough for the secondary student. If the young read this book and take notice, there is still time for our planet.
Reviewed by Stella Lees
