NONFICTION

The Secret Life of Trees: Explore the Forests of the World, with Oakheart the Brave

by Moira Butterfield (text) & illus. by Vivian Mineker
Quarto/words & pictures. Aug. 2020. 48p. Tr $19.95. ISBN 9780711250024.
COPY ISBN
Gr 3-6–Butterfield’s knowledgable prose and Mineker’s tender illustrations introduce readers to the beauty of trees. Oakheart the Brave, a personified tree, describes his own growth and development. He also shares fanciful, folktale-like stories gathered from his bird friends. Oakheart explains how and why his bark is so rough and wrinkly. He discusses tree communication, tree rings, and tree defenses as well as different types of forests and the tallest, biggest trees in the world. The text ends with information about how trees live and grow through the four seasons. Mineker’s pleasant illustrations are effectively incorporated throughout the text. The artwork complements the book’s mix of narrative fiction and facts; the trees are depicted as friendly, smiling guardians of the forest.
VERDICT A well-constructed, informative, and entertaining book about trees.
Reviewed by Heidi Grange, Summit Elem. Sch., Smithfield, UT , May 08, 2020

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