Witness Trees
Hardcover
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
Publisher: Bound to Stay Bound Books
Published: May 16 2023
Pages: 50
Language: English
★ A gallery of stately trees around the world associated with times and events both historic and prehistoric....Moving and, as a way of connecting today's readers to significant moments of the past, effective.--Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
A 2024 Notable Social Studies Trade Book (NCSS-CBC)
Nominee, 2024-2025 Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book Awards (MASL), Picture Book Category
Nominee, 2025 Utah Beehive Awards (CLAU), Informational Category
For generations, trees have silently witnessed history's most pivotal moments. Here are their stories.
In the sweep of wind over grass,
near the pulse of rivers,
we stand,
monuments of bark
and age-curled green.
Above, an avalanche of stars.
Below, the ocean of earth.
Within, the uncounted lives
birthed, bloomed, and plucked
from the gardens we tend.
We survive.
We remember.
We witness.
In evocative verse and stunning artwork, Witness Trees is the story of the world's most enduring witnesses: the trees. From the Flower of Kent apple tree still standing in Sir Isaac Newton's yard, to the English oak given to Jesse Owens after facing down Hitler at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, to the California redwood saved from destruction by July Butterfly Hill, to the Callery pear tree still miraculously alive after the World Trade Towers fell, Witness Trees is a moving tribute to the world's most famous trees, many of which still need humanity's protection. Be moved, be inspired, be amazed by the quiet, reverberating voices of nature's sentinels: the witness trees.
For each tree depicted, there is information about that tree and the events it witnessed. Among the trees lovingly discussed are 20 treees you can visit today.
Van Cleave's decision to pull on both legend and historicalfact works to the book's advantage here, underscoring the idea that trees arewitness not just to events in human history but also to the narratives wecreate around them in our attempts to shape an unpredictable world into orderlystories. The trees have no need for such order, anchored solidly into the earth, and the somber tone and poetic text have an aloof thoughtfulness--not coldlyemotionless but distant enough to see an arc of wonder in the progress of theworld.--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
'Our roots rundeep--/ they grip history, / a restless forever, ' open the incantatoryfirst-person plural lines propelling this tribute....landscape illustrationscomfortably portray historical and geographical scenes....By piling on examples, Van Cleave impresses upon readers trees' enduring power.--Publishers Weekly
Also in
Science & Nature
I Survived the California Wildfires, 2018 (I Survived Graphic Novel #13): Volume 13
Tarshis, Lauren
Paperback
I Survived the California Wildfires, 2018 (I Survived Graphic Novel #13): Volume 13
Tarshis, Lauren
Hardcover
The Animals Speak: The Lakota Way (Wamákashkaŋ'iya: Lakhól Wichóh'aŋ Kiŋ) (A Picture Book)
Nelson, S. D.
Hardcover
I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871 (I Survived Graphic Novel #7): Volume 7
Tarshis, Lauren
Paperback
Polar Bear and Friends Welcome Winter: An Interactive Board Book with Spinning Wheel Cover for Babies & Toddlers
Carle, Eric
Odd Dot
Hardcover
Detective Duck: The Mystery of the Flash Flood (Detective Duck #4)
Winkler, Henry
Oliver, Lin
Hardcover
Professor Thomas Cat's Guide to Understanding the Human Brain: The Dyslexia Files
Allen, Rachael
Hardcover
The Legend of Ban-Dal: A New Korean Folktale (a Modern Myth Picture Book for Kids)
Yoon, Jessica
Hardcover
