Trees

Tree identification guidebooks aplenty offer information about bark types and branch structures, but tree fanciers know there is something more to understand: “Each tree offers/ a story/ a clue/ a dance/ that makes it/ its very own/ self.” These fanciful poems conjure telltale personalities for 15 common tree varieties. Maple “sings to the heavens” while palm “saves all her leaves/ for her most amazing hat.” Readers may be troubled to notice that trees personified as female often have attributes centered on style (“Sycamore, the fashion queen”) and clothes (“Willow dances/ in her narrow kimono”), while trees gendered “male” get characteristics such as wisdom (“Apple Tree,/ wise and gnarled”) and strength (“Oak stands strong”). But it is the one flat note in an otherwise joyful song. Tsong’s block-printed and hand-painted elements add depth and movement to cheerful digital collage illustrations that cleverly vary location and perspective, adding an extra layer of fun to the accounting of quirky tree personalities. Ages 4–8. [em](Mar.) [/em]