Things That I Love About Trees - Hardcover

Butterworth, Chris

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1406349402 ISBN 13: 9781406349405

Publisher: Walker Books Ltd, 2018

Synopsis

A very young non-fiction picture book that looks at how a tree changes with the seasons, with charming illustrations by Charlotte Voake. Learn how a plum tree changes with the seasons in this charming non-fiction picture book, beautifully illustrated by Charlotte Voake. Chris Butterworth's gentle, lyrical text describes how the buds of the plum tree bloom in the spring and how its leaves grow green and lush in the summer. Time goes by, and soon we see those same leaves fall in the autumn - now the branches are bare for the cold winter-months. With exquisite watercolour illustrations by Charlotte Voake, this is a book to treasure.

About this title

About the Author:

Chris Butterworth is the author of over seventy books, mostly non-fiction, and has written on subjects as diverse as disasters, hiccups, basketball and snakes. She has written a number of non-fiction titles for Walker, including Where Do Clothes Come From and Lunchbox: The Story of Your Food, winner of the American Farm Bureau's Book of the Year. She lives in Cornwall. Charlotte Voake is the author-illustrator of Ginger, shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal and winner of the Nestle Smarties Gold Award, Ginger Finds a Home and Hello Twins, one of the 2006 New York Times Ten Best Illustrated Books. She is also the illustrator of Steve Voake's Insect Detectives and Vivian French's Caterpillar Butterfly. She lives in Surrey.

From School Library Journal:

K-Gr 2—An ode to the majesty of trees, gently narrated with a sense of childlike wonder. Opening with the joyful declaration "It's spring!" the book guides readers through the four seasons and the changes that trees undergo throughout the year. There are moments when Butterworth's similes are just right: "Summer trees are shady and so full of leaves that when the wind blows, they swish like the sea." Text in a smaller font expands on information hinted at in the main narrative; for instance, how trees do the majority of their growing in early summer. Voake's illustrations, done in watercolor and ink, are well matched with Butterworth's meditative narrative. The artwork loosely follows a young child after she races out of her apartment to investigate the flora and fauna around her, sometimes accompanied by friends and other times alone with just a bird with a "sweet sticky plum." Twice in the illustrations a teepeelike structure made out of branches and twigs is shown. In the second instance, the text refers to it as a "hideout" that children can build. The stereotypes tied to this kind of imagery, particularly in the United States, cannot be ignored or dismissed and their inclusion is most disappointing. In addition, a suggestion to "use a fallen tree as a giant climbing frame" is unwise, considering the relative age of the intended audience. VERDICT For readers curious about changes in nature, consider instead April Pulley Sayre's Best in Snow and Full of Fall.—Della Farrell, School Library Journal

About this edition

• Publisher: Walker Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1406349402
• ISBN 13: 9781406349405
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32