trees

Forests by Nell Cross Beckerman – Book Recommendation

| Tasha

Forests by Nell Cross Beckerman, illustrated by Kalen Chock

Publisher: Orchard Books

Publication Date: November 4, 2025

Reviewed from Edelweiss e-galley

ISBN: 9781546130970

Enter a variety of forests from across the world in this nonfiction picture book. Start with the wonder of a deciduous forest at night and then explore it during the day. There is information on roots and fungi and then the drama of a forest wildfire and how trees survive. The book moves on to a kelp forest in the ocean, the beauty of a forest hosting butterflies. It includes the Amazonian rainforest and a bamboo forest in Japan, each with its own visuals, sounds and facts. 

All of the facts shared are fascinating and add to the understanding of how forests work together and how humans impact them for good and bad. There is a sense of wonder as each page turns and reveals a different forest or a new aspect of the same one. The digital illustrations are arrestingly beautiful from the beam of the flashlight on the first pages to the destructive beauty of fire to the cool greens of bamboo. Each image embraces the colors of the landscape, comparing and contrasting visually.

A detailed and interesting glimpse of forests both familiar and new. Appropriate for ages 5-9.

I’m Like a Tree and a Tree’s Like Me by Sylvaine Jaoui – Book Review

| Tasha

I’m Like a Tree and a Tree’s Like Me by Sylvaine Jaoui, illustrated by Anne Crahay (9781592704248)

Growing side-by-side throughout this book, a child and a tree transform. From a tiny seed to a fattening cell to setting down roots. They burst into the light one day. They both need water and warmth. And they are both gifts to the world and rely on the world around them.

With clever die cuts, this picture book ties humans closely together with nature, embracing our connectedness to the world around us and showing us that we are part of a larger whole.

A delight of an import from a French author and Belgian artist. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Enchanted Lion Books.

Hilwa’s Gifts by Safa Suleiman – Book Review

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Hilwa’s Gifts by Safa Suleiman, illustrated by Anait Semirdzhyan (9781536229424)

Ali loves visiting his grandfather in Palestine and has a favorite tree in their olive grove. The tree was planted by his grandfather’s grandfather and is named Hilwa. Ali is visiting at harvest time for the first time and is shocked to see that they are hitting the trees with sticks to get the olives to fall onto tarps on the ground. Even though his grandfather says that they won’t hurt the trees, Ali tries to harvest olives without hitting the branches. It’s impossibly hard work, so soon Ali tries the stick method and makes it rain olives. The olive trees, including Hilwa, provide olives, olive oil, soap and even fuel for fires. After a feast of olive treats, Ali must return home with one little green gift in his hands to plant back in America. 

A beautiful look at the connection of people and trees, the importance of planting for the future and the vitality of olives and all they provide. The Palestinian family is warm and generous, celebrating Ali and his growing connection with the land. The digital illustrations have an organic feel thanks to watercolor effects and a touch of depth from small splatters. 

A timely visit to Palestine and its people. Appropriate for ages 3-6.

Reviewed from library copy.

Trees by Tony Johnston

| Tasha
Cover image for Trees.

Trees by Tony Johnston, illustrated by Tiffany Bozic (9781534475175)

This picture book explores trees from their own point of view. Beginning with the line, “Trees love sky,” the book goes on to show how integrated trees are into the environments around them. From holding out their limbs for songbirds to celebrating the clouds above them by reaching tall, the trees help form the world around them. As trees burst into blooms or offer a sheltered place to read, time spent alongside trees in nature is always worthwhile.

Told in very simple poetic words, this picture book is ideal for the youngest children to see trees as something special and valuable in our world. The Author’s Note clearly ties trees to helping our climate crisis and also shares some of the amazing things that trees can do.

The illustrations of the book are particularly impactful. All painted on wooden panels, they have an incredible richness, sharing a wide variety of trees and habitats around the world including dreamy green wetlands, golden fields of wheat, and stirring details of the rough bark and the moss that is part of it.

A book that will have you headed outside to hug trees. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Survivor Tree by Marcie Colleen

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Cover image for Survivor Tree.

Survivor Tree by Marcie Colleen, illustrated by Aaron Becker (9780316487672)

On a bustling street in New York City, a small tree grew along the tall steel buildings. It was there for almost thirty years, marking the seasons. Then one September day, there were explosions and buildings fell to rubble, crushing and burning the tree. The tree was found in the wreckage with a few green leaves and taken far away to fresh soil. For several seasons, the tree stayed bare, then one day blossoms and buds arrived. For ten years, the tree grew there until it was time to return home. Home to a newly empty sky, where people stopped and wept, and where the tree with its burns and scars offered a way to bridge past to present.

This picture book is based on the true story of the tree that survived the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. Through seasons of bustling city streets to the attack itself to seasons of healing afterwards, the tree shows an inspiring resilience for us all. Using delicate prose, the author writes of the beauty of the tree even when people were not stopping to notice it. The survival of the tree is told with a gentle admiration for its very survival.

Becker beautifully captures the New York City setting of the tree as it changes from before the attack and afterwards. He offers not just a story of the tree itself but an accompanying story in the illustrations about a family growing up alongside the tree and then there loss and memories after the attack. It is this subtle human connection of people to the tree that add much to the book.

A haunting and beautiful look at 9/11 and the tree that survived it and continues to inspire. Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Little, Brown and Company.

Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey by Erin Entrada Kelly

| Tasha
Cover image for Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey.

Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey by Erin Entrada Kelly (9780062970428)

Marisol is the only one in her family who hates the big magnolia tree in their back yard. She has named the tree Peppina, and doesn’t like it because Marisol is scared of climbing trees. Her best friend Jada isn’t scared of anything. She can climb the tree like a flash and so can Marisol’s older brother. Marisol though worries a lot. She even worries about worrying too much. She is scared of learning to swim and almost didn’t learn to ride a bike either. Marisol is the only person in her class whose mother was born somewhere else. Her mother was born in the Philippines. She’s also the only person whose father works on an oil rig during the week. That’s why she also worries about Evie Smythe, a mean girl in her class who seems nice but makes fun of Marisol and her family. So what will happen when Marisol decides she has to climb Peppina after all? Maybe something amazing!

Award-winning author Kelly based Marisol upon herself as a child. Marisol’s worries and internal voice ring so true because of that connection to the author. As Marisol frets, she finds herself up in the middle of the night often and spends the time watching silent movies so no one else wakes up. She loves Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, naming some of the objects around her home after the actors she sees on screen. These are the clever moments in the book that fully bring it to life.

Readers will enjoy Marisol who may be worried, but also is entirely her own person. While she keeps some of her quirks between herself and Jada, others are more obvious in her life. Marisol is funny and filled with imagination, allowing her to become a bird even if she doesn’t like heights.

A charmer of a chapter book that “may be” just the one you are looking for. Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Greenwillow Books.

The Wisdom of Trees: How Trees Work Together to Form a Natural Kingdom by Lita Judge

| Tasha
Cover image

The Wisdom of Trees: How Trees Work Together to Form a Natural Kingdom by Lita Judge (9781250237071)

Through a combination of poetry and science facts, this nonfiction picture book invites readers into the amazing things that trees can do. The book starts with a young beech tree in the Ruhe Forest in Germany, starting to show readers that trees have a language with one another and live much longer than humans do. The roots of the trees act like an instant message web, sending chemical and electrical signals to one another. Trees also have amazing ways to protect themselves from predators, or over-grazing from giraffes. They create our climate, processing carbon dioxide and offering shelter and cool in their ecosystems. They can ask for help from their neighbor trees, who will send them extra nutrients via their root systems. They offer shelter and food to animals. They can tell time via the light, knowing when seasons are changing. The list goes on and on, creating a sense of wonder about the trees that surround us all.

Judge’s poems capture the world from the perspective of the trees themselves. They show what it feels like to be someone’s home, how they continue to live even after they have fallen, how it feels to nurture baby trees, and how it feels to soar high into the sky with your branches. Judge shares facts that truly elevate children’s understanding of trees and how they communicate with one another. The information is fascinating, offering a glimpse into a hidden world. The book ends with an extensive Author’s Note sharing more information, a glossary of terms and a list of sources and websites.

As always, Judge’s illustrations are marvelous. She captures the depths of the forest, the sunbeams kissing the younger trees. She invites us underground to see a den and the roots communicating. She shows us a variety of seasons, from the mellow tones of fall to the cool greens of spring to the ice of winter and the sun of summer. She is a master of light and movement, showing us perspectives that also amaze.

A great nonfiction read that will have young scientists fascinated by their own backyards. Appropriate for ages 6-9.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Roaring Brook Press.

The Tree in Me by Corinna Luyken

| Tasha
Cover image

The Tree in Me by Corinna Luyken (9780593112595)

There is a tree in all of us, as this picture book so gorgeously demonstrates. It’s a tree that is apple-orange-pear-almond-plum delicious. It’s a tree of shade and sun. All parts and stages of the tree are there, from the sapling through to the trunk and the crown. It’s a tree full of creatures, like bees, squirrels and birds. The tree brings wind and rain and dirt with it. Rivers flow and the sky arches overhead. The tree bends thanks to its deep roots. It reaches to the sun. And thanks to knowing there’s a tree in me, I know there’s a tree in you too.

This picture book is written in simple poetic text that swirls on the page, inviting readers to look deeply at their own tree inside of them. The inward connection with nature itself and with our own nature within is beautifully captured here, showing that we are part of nature at a deep level. Children who are learning meditation will enjoy this new visualization of their connection with others too.

The illustrations are a huge part of this book. Done in what would seem wild colors of neon pinks and oranges, the connection to nature turns these colors into sunbeams, light in the trees, and the glow of merry playful cheeks. Paired with the black ink used in the images for leaves, trunks, weeds and grass, the colors invite us into an interior world of brightness.

A nature connection inward and outward. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy provided by Dial Books.

111 Trees by Rina Singh

| Tasha
Cover image for 111 Trees

111 Trees: How One Village Celebrates the Birth of Every Girl by Rina Singh, illustrated by Marianne Ferrer (9781525301209)

Part of the Citizen Kid collection, this nonfiction picture book explore the story of how one village in India came to celebrate the birth of girls. Sundar grew up walking with his mother to get water through the heat. until she is killed from a snake bite. After this, Sundar takes comfort in hugging trees, thinking of his mother. Sundar grew up and taught his children to love nature as much as he does. He works for a mining company and grows so worried about what they are doing to the local environment and their unwillingness to plant trees to help that he leaves his job. He runs for election and becomes the head of the village. When his daughter dies, he plants trees in her memory. He has an idea, declaring that every girl born in the village will be welcomed by the planting of 111 trees. Sundar is mocked for this idea that goes against customs, but he does not give up. He steadily speaks with people, convincing them of the impact they could have on the local environment by planting these trees. As the trees grow, life in the village changes. Now the women don’t have to walk long distances to get water, the fruit of the trees help feed the children and families, and girls can go to school with the boys as the gender inequality is overturned.

Singh builds her story with care, showing Sundar’s childhood with his mother and then his loss of her as the deep inspiration for his idea. She demonstrates how one man’s quest to fix the environment can make an enormous difference not just for him but for an entire community, the future of the girls that grow up there, and the quality of life for all. Singh does not lecture, instead showing how resilience and perseverance can eventually pay off. The Author’s Note at the end of the book offers more information on Sundar and the other customs that he has ended, including child marriage.

The illustrations show the changing landscape as the trees are planted. From a desert-like wasteland, the steady increase in trees transforms the landscape and the pages to lush green. The images focus on the interplay between human and nature, showing a community that even when skeptical continued to listen.

An inspiring picture book that tells the true story of one man’s quest to bring back trees and stop gender inequality. Appropriate for ages 5-7.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Kids Can Press.