Cool Green: Amazing, Remarkable Trees

Coconut palms, monkey puzzles, baobabs, and many others appear in this stylized visual celebration of trees’ many magnificent features. An opening exchange between a Latinx-cued child and their abuelo (“Why am I in awe of trees?/ Trees are astounding!”) frames affectionate verse that highlights the surprising characteristics of coniferous and deciduous varieties alike. A vibrant rainbow gum is “Mother Nature’s/ ever-changing masterpiece,” while “The Wollemi pine/ is a dinosaur tree.” English text that intersperses Spanish phrases further lauds “old and wise” mother trees and an “intricate network/ of fungal filaments.” Employing acrylic paint, stamped leaf prints, and texture-providing collaged specimens, perspective-oriented illustrations alternately look upward, zoom in on bark, and offer distant silhouettes, fittingly hinting at the many ways in which trees are “cool green.” An author’s note and tree facts conclude. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)