The Tale of the Heaven Tree - Hardcover

Joslin, Mary

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802851908 ISBN 13: 9780802851901

Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co, 1999

Synopsis

When the people of the world become greedy, the gardens created by the Great Maker are ruined, until a small child and a single ugly, wrinkled, brown seed show them the way back to the Great Maker's garden paradise.

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Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 2-This gracefully written ecological and spiritual fable tells of the gardens of the earth, planted by the Great Maker in woodlands, prairies, and oceans, and given to humans to tend to and enjoy. Then people grow greedy, despoiling nature to build elaborate cities filled with luxuries. From high in her palace home, a little girl gazes down at the devastation and weeps, until the Maker's voice whispers that she must plant and nurture a seed she will find lying on the ground. It flourishes, growing into a gigantic tree that shelters all of the dispossessed animals and birds and reaches all the way to the Great Maker's garden paradise in Heaven, perhaps a metaphor for our needful reclamation of the earth today. As certain actions, thoughts, and sounds are expressed, the simple, poetic text often inventively swoops and ripples across the double-page, decorative watercolor illustrations that combine the meticulous elegance of Chinese brush painting with the exuberance of folk art.
Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Part creation story, part ecological fable, this eye-catching volume extols the beauty of the natural world and emphasizes the importance of preserving it. In the various gardens created by "the world's Great Maker," plants and beasts of every type flourish. Prairie gardens "rippling with grasses" and woodland gardens "deep in green moss and shyly nodding bellflowers" color the glorious landscape, while the "warbling and whistling, tumbling, trilling melodies" of birds fill the air. The humans, however, decide to develop more land and construct larger and larger buildings, and eventually the gardens are razed and devastated, the animals displaced, suffering or dead. A sole child, with guidance from the Great Maker, begins a regeneration of the gardens with one small seed. Joslin's (The Goodbye Boat) lyrical prose provides a portrait of paradise, and her deftly delivered message is likely to inspire young readers. But it is So's (The Beauty of the Beast: Poems from the Animal Kingdom) energetically patterned watercolors that instantly command attention. Airy, sweeping nature scenes feature wispy lines and loose brush strokes, while darker, crowded cityscapes feature intricate geometric designs. Varied compositions reflect the changing moods of the story: stacked panels show the exuberant coexistence of woodland, prairie and undersea "gardens"; lines of copy swoop to mimic the flight of birds; narrow text blocks are shoehorned next to equally narrow skyscrapers. So's light, playful style proves an ideal counterpoint to the story's sober undercurrents. Ages 4-up. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In spare but resonant language, Joslin spins a fable about heaven and care for the earth. "The world's Great Maker" planted gardens, woodland, prairie, and undersea, but the most lovely were gardens of trees, where birds inhabited the world with their song. But people wanted more and bigger houses, and soon there were no more gardens. When a small child hears the voice of the Maker telling her to plant a seed, she does, and the seed grows into a great tree where animals gather and birds once again come to live. The tree is so large that it reaches to heaven, and anyone can climb its branches to get there. Brilliant watercolors, sometimes reminiscent of Chinese embroidered silk, are festooned with words that climb and soar and slither on the pages showing gardens, but sit sedately on pages showing cityscapes. The text is dense with meaning but will be clear to even some of the smallest children. GraceAnne A. DeCandido

Edition details

• Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802851908
• ISBN 13: 9780802851901
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: So Meilo
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 26