This Is the Tree - Softcover

Miriam Moss

4.24

46 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0711214913 ISBN 13: 9780711214910

Publisher: Frances Lincoln, 2001

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The ancient and curious baobab tree is the centre of this evocative and informative book about the wildlife of the wide African plain. Old as a volcano, the distinctive 'upside-down' tree has great cultural significance and plays a central role in the lives of numerous and varied creatures. The book traces activity around the baobab throughout a day. Miriam Moss's prose poem combines with Adrienne Kennaway's vivid and beautiful artwork to capture the magic of the wonderful and diverse wildlife of the African plain.

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About the Author:

Miriam Moss was born in Aldershot, in Hampshire, and has lived in the Middle East, Africa and China. This is the Tree, was shortlisted for the Bisto Award in 2000. She is the author of 75 books, translated into 21 languages. To visit the website of Miriam Moss click here Adrienne Kennaway studied at Ealing Art School and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome. A great lover of all forms of nature, she won the 1987 Kate Greenaway Medal for Crafty Chameleon. She lives in County Kerry, Ireland. Adrienne's books for Frances Lincoln are This is the Oasis, This is the Reef and This is the Tree, Jungle Song and Arctic Song, Rainbow Bird and Curious Clownfish.

From School Library Journal:

K-Gr 3-This evocation of the African baobab tree works hard to be both poetic and informational and it succeeds at neither. The tree is straightforwardly described but also personified as having a "huge rounded belly," with rain causing "-dark-stained wrinkles/on knuckles and knees," and toes pointing to the moon. Each sentence begins with "This is the tree-," which gradually wears on readers, but the often-dramatic watercolor illustrations, lush with detail, reward viewers and extend the text. The book notes various uses animals and humans make of the shade, bark, blossoms, and fruit but readers are left to wonder why the elephant gores the trunk and what the tribespeople are doing with the bark they cut. The text doesn't explain, and the picture shows two men watching insects pour out from under the cut. More information is presented on a double-page spread at the end. Barbara Bash's beautiful, informative Tree of Life (Little, Brown, 1989; o.p.) is for slightly older readers. Like Lynne Cherry's The Great Kapok Tree (Harcourt, l990) and Brenda Guiberson's Cactus Hotel (Holt, l991), Moss's title does show how one species supports an ecosystem of interrelated animals and is an important part of the larger terrain.-Susan Hepler, Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA

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