What do you think?
Rate this book
Trees
Every tree has its own story to tell in this evocative collection of poems celebrating the many varieties—from maple to willow to oak.
There are so many different kinds of trees in the world, and each has special qualities that make it unique. This lyrical, fanciful collection of poems celebrates the singular beauty of each tree, from the gnarled old apple tree to the tall and graceful aspen.
There are so many different kinds of trees in the world, and each has special qualities that make it unique. This lyrical, fanciful collection of poems celebrates the singular beauty of each tree, from the gnarled old apple tree to the tall and graceful aspen.
40 pages, Hardcover
Published March 5, 2019
62 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
October 28, 2020
I think this lovely book of poetry about trees has appeal beyond the typical picture book audience and could be equally well enjoyed by adult tree enthusiasts. The illustrations are beautiful and I loved most of the poems. My only quibble is that I didn't love that the different types of trees were assigned genders and seemed to play a bit too much into the typical "strong" being male and "showy" being female. Still, I enjoyed it very much, on the whole.
A few of my favorite poems:
"Each tree offers
a story
a clue
a dance
that makes it
its very own
self."
********************
"Maple sings to the heavens
Reaching out,
she offers her precious sap
to celebrate the return of the light,
and sweeten the last days of winter."
********************
"Oak stands strong,
rooted deeply in the earth,
his mighty branches held out
just so--
palms up,
to receive the joy of birds."
A few of my favorite poems:
"Each tree offers
a story
a clue
a dance
that makes it
its very own
self."
********************
"Maple sings to the heavens
Reaching out,
she offers her precious sap
to celebrate the return of the light,
and sweeten the last days of winter."
********************
"Oak stands strong,
rooted deeply in the earth,
his mighty branches held out
just so--
palms up,
to receive the joy of birds."
February 26, 2019
Evocative short poems capture unique aspects about 14 different tree species. In one of my favorites: “Aspen, tall and graceful, / dances on her tippy toes. / Her golden leaves like castanets / shimmer in the breeze.” I especially appreciate the brief descriptions that will encourage young writers to use figurative language as they describe nature around them.
February 9, 2021
Squee! Trees and poems in a picture-book. It's avl. at my library, but I might have to buy my own copy.
---
Well, no. The stereotypical assignment of gender is absolutely ridiculous. There is no reason an oak can't be a 'she.' Better yet, leave off mention of gender altogether, as some at the end did.
The pictures are attractive, but not amazing.
I just can't make myself like this, much less recommend it. So sad so to see such a good idea wasted.
---
Well, no. The stereotypical assignment of gender is absolutely ridiculous. There is no reason an oak can't be a 'she.' Better yet, leave off mention of gender altogether, as some at the end did.
The pictures are attractive, but not amazing.
I just can't make myself like this, much less recommend it. So sad so to see such a good idea wasted.
February 10, 2020
Richie’s Picks: TREES by Verlie Hutchens and Jing Jing Tsong, ill. Simon & Schuster/Beach Lane, March 2019, 40p., ISBN: 978-1-4814-4707-2
“Planting billions of trees across the world is one of the biggest and cheapest ways of taking CO2 out of the atmosphere to tackle the climate crisis, according to scientists, who have made the first calculation of how many more trees could be planted without encroaching on cropland or urban areas.
As trees grow, they absorb and store the carbon dioxide emissions that are driving global heating. New research estimates that a worldwide planting program could remove two-thirds of all the emissions from human activities that remain in the atmosphere today, a figure the scientists describe as ‘mind-blowing.’”
-- The Guardian, “Tree planting ‘has mind-blowing potential to tackle climate crisis’” (7/4/19)
“The trunk of a tree
is the road for me
on a sunny summer day.
Up the bark that is brown and dark
Through tunnels of leaves that sway
And tickle my knees in the trembly breeze
That’s where I make my way.
Leaves in my face and twigs in my hair
In a squeeze of a place but I don’t care.
Some people talk of a summer walk
through clover and weeds and hay.
Some people stride where the hills are wide
and the rocks are speckled gray.
But the trunk of a tree is the road for me
on a sunny summer day.”
-- Aileen Fisher, “Climbing” (1965) (One I memorized as a fifth-grader and can still recite from memory.)
I’ve always been fond of trees--climbing them, relishing their shade, and feasting on their fruit and nuts. I once planted 1,500 baby trees as a soil-conservation project. Forty-plus years later, the resulting acres of woods are visible on Google Earth.
Back when I was a little kid, in the early-Sixties, there was a big, old tree, bearing green apples, in our then-backyard. I learned to climb that tree, and to help bake pies for family get-togethers with the apples I’d pick. It was the first tree I considered “my tree.”
I love the illustration of the apple tree in TREES. From the perspective of a bird hovering up above the tree, we see how inviting a perch it appears. Having once lived alongside a commercial apple orchard, I recognize this tree image as a real, regularly-pruned, hard-working apple tree. It’s an apple tree that’s been created by an artist who has paid attention.
“Apple Tree
wise and gnarled,
bends low,
his branches weighed down
with round red fruit
and age.”
TREES consists of 14 two-page, breathtaking depictions of trees which are each accompanied by a free verse poem that lends personality to that variety of tree. The tree varieties included are maple, aspen, oak, palm, pussy willow, apple, red bud, spruce, dogwood, sycamore, white pine, willow, birch, and sequoia.
Jing Jing Tsong’s illustrations take advantage of the book’s long rectangular trim size by switching, when necessary, from broad, side-to-side images, to tall, top-to-bottom ones. This enhances the ability to depict the majestic stature of the really tall trees like the spruce and the Sequoia.
“Sequoia holds memories
for the Tribe of Trees,
telling tales from another age,
before the time
of saws.”
None of us are going to single-handedly save the planet from catastrophic changes by planting a couple of trees out back. But if we develop a new national and international sensibility, and participate as a society in current mass movements that seek to plant a billion trees, or a trillion trees, we can collectively play a role in real change to protect future life on Planet Earth.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
“Planting billions of trees across the world is one of the biggest and cheapest ways of taking CO2 out of the atmosphere to tackle the climate crisis, according to scientists, who have made the first calculation of how many more trees could be planted without encroaching on cropland or urban areas.
As trees grow, they absorb and store the carbon dioxide emissions that are driving global heating. New research estimates that a worldwide planting program could remove two-thirds of all the emissions from human activities that remain in the atmosphere today, a figure the scientists describe as ‘mind-blowing.’”
-- The Guardian, “Tree planting ‘has mind-blowing potential to tackle climate crisis’” (7/4/19)
“The trunk of a tree
is the road for me
on a sunny summer day.
Up the bark that is brown and dark
Through tunnels of leaves that sway
And tickle my knees in the trembly breeze
That’s where I make my way.
Leaves in my face and twigs in my hair
In a squeeze of a place but I don’t care.
Some people talk of a summer walk
through clover and weeds and hay.
Some people stride where the hills are wide
and the rocks are speckled gray.
But the trunk of a tree is the road for me
on a sunny summer day.”
-- Aileen Fisher, “Climbing” (1965) (One I memorized as a fifth-grader and can still recite from memory.)
I’ve always been fond of trees--climbing them, relishing their shade, and feasting on their fruit and nuts. I once planted 1,500 baby trees as a soil-conservation project. Forty-plus years later, the resulting acres of woods are visible on Google Earth.
Back when I was a little kid, in the early-Sixties, there was a big, old tree, bearing green apples, in our then-backyard. I learned to climb that tree, and to help bake pies for family get-togethers with the apples I’d pick. It was the first tree I considered “my tree.”
I love the illustration of the apple tree in TREES. From the perspective of a bird hovering up above the tree, we see how inviting a perch it appears. Having once lived alongside a commercial apple orchard, I recognize this tree image as a real, regularly-pruned, hard-working apple tree. It’s an apple tree that’s been created by an artist who has paid attention.
“Apple Tree
wise and gnarled,
bends low,
his branches weighed down
with round red fruit
and age.”
TREES consists of 14 two-page, breathtaking depictions of trees which are each accompanied by a free verse poem that lends personality to that variety of tree. The tree varieties included are maple, aspen, oak, palm, pussy willow, apple, red bud, spruce, dogwood, sycamore, white pine, willow, birch, and sequoia.
Jing Jing Tsong’s illustrations take advantage of the book’s long rectangular trim size by switching, when necessary, from broad, side-to-side images, to tall, top-to-bottom ones. This enhances the ability to depict the majestic stature of the really tall trees like the spruce and the Sequoia.
“Sequoia holds memories
for the Tribe of Trees,
telling tales from another age,
before the time
of saws.”
None of us are going to single-handedly save the planet from catastrophic changes by planting a couple of trees out back. But if we develop a new national and international sensibility, and participate as a society in current mass movements that seek to plant a billion trees, or a trillion trees, we can collectively play a role in real change to protect future life on Planet Earth.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
December 5, 2019
Trees by Verlie Hutchens is one of my all time favorite children's books. I am a lover of the natural world, especially trees, and work hard to instill respect for the environment in my students. Trees combines factual information on many different tree varieties effortlessly with beautiful poems for each specific tree type. The lyrical versus chosen by Hutchens evoke strong emotions in all readers, young and old. The illustrations, by award winning illustrator Jing Jing Tsong, pair perfectly with each poem; completely filling the page with with spectacular images that draw in readers. As a teacher with a background in environmental education, I adore books like this for their ability to present information about the natural world in such an artistic way. Trees captivates the reader with its beautiful images while also providing accurate and useful information on many different tree varieties; such as the common name, size and shape, and where it grows. In my preschool classroom we have used this book for science lessons on tree identification and for building vocabulary. Another aspect that I appreciate about this book is that it is non-rhyming poetry. I find that many children think that “good” poems must rhyme and this serves as a nice example of the contrary. This is a WOWbook for me and my kiddos a like!
April 9, 2020
Trees is a book of simple poems, each one celebrating a type of tree. Maples, aspens, oaks, palms, pussy willows, apple trees, red buds, spruses, dogwoods, sycamores, pines, willows, birches, sequoias---all these types of trees have a poem and an illustration devoted to them.
If you are a tree lover, as I am, or even if you are not (this book may make you one), you probably need to read Trees by Verlie Hutchens.
Here is a sample:
Aspens, tall and graceful,
dances on her tippy toes.
Her golden leaves like castanets
shimmer in the breeze.
If you are a tree lover, as I am, or even if you are not (this book may make you one), you probably need to read Trees by Verlie Hutchens.
Here is a sample:
Aspens, tall and graceful,
dances on her tippy toes.
Her golden leaves like castanets
shimmer in the breeze.
April 23, 2019
I have a special appreciation for trees. I think they are beautiful and an important part of the world we live in. This book highlights several different kinds of trees with a poem and illustration. It's a gorgeous piece of work, rather a piece of art in my opinion. For some of the illustrations the book has to be turned sideways because the glorious height of the tree is being portrayed. Each illustration also shows a child enjoying the benefits of that particular type of tree. A wonderful book that pays homage to importance and varying roles of trees in the natural world.
May 6, 2021
Beautiful for art inspiration and the poems are cute and informative. Fingerprints, scrapes, texture, swirls, tiny repetition.
June 7, 2022
The poems and illustrations were amazing! I’ll buy this one if my children pull it off the library shelf enough.
June 29, 2019
I adore the style of this book. A beautiful and sweet love letter to trees of all kinds. Good for the soul. I also wouldn't mind each page spread framed and hung up on my walls.
May 29, 2021
Fourteen species of trees, each with a standalone short poem describing it.
Lovely book for tree lovers (in a perfect world, wouldn't we all be?) and good poetry sampling for classroom genre study.
Lovely book for tree lovers (in a perfect world, wouldn't we all be?) and good poetry sampling for classroom genre study.
July 1, 2019
A poetry book, so definitely for more mature kids. I adored this book as an adult--each page has a short stanza/poem about a different kind of tree, with evocative illustrations of each tree. This is a very warm-fuzzy book if you're sentimental about trees or forests (which, HA, of course I am).
February 7, 2020
Collection of short poems capturing the essence of each type of tree.
The illustrations are lovely and offer clear examples of each tree.
The illustrations are lovely and offer clear examples of each tree.
March 29, 2019
Celebrate trees in this book of verse with each poem focused on one type of tree. There are willows, oaks, birch, aspen and more. A total of fourteen trees are highlighted here in free verse, each one embracing the unique nature of that tree with clarity and brevity. The poems are only a few lines long, yet the capture the tree perfectly. The poems are more about the inherent nature of the tree than really describing them physically. There are trees that pride themselves on their straight arrow-like height, others that are filled with giggles in spring. Each poem suits the tree its about, changing in tone to match.
The art by Tsong is exceptional. Some of the taller trees are done so that the book must be turned to read the words and see the tree upright. Others are shown in a full landscape whether budding in spring or standing against a snowstorm. The illustrations are done using digital collage with hand-done elements. They are filled with lines that swirl and move, creating breezes on the page and rings on the branches and trunks of the trees.
A beautiful book of poetry about the trees in our world. Appropriate for ages 6-9.
The art by Tsong is exceptional. Some of the taller trees are done so that the book must be turned to read the words and see the tree upright. Others are shown in a full landscape whether budding in spring or standing against a snowstorm. The illustrations are done using digital collage with hand-done elements. They are filled with lines that swirl and move, creating breezes on the page and rings on the branches and trunks of the trees.
A beautiful book of poetry about the trees in our world. Appropriate for ages 6-9.
May 26, 2022
Verlie Hutchens writes poems about the defining visual features of different groups of trees. The illustrations are digital collages of block prints and hand painted elements, by Jing Jing Tsong. Each two-page section features illustrations in the background with accompanying, free verse (non-rhyming) poems in the foreground. Another version of these theme might feature prominent native trees to a particular geographical region, as a delightful, instructive aid for teaching prominent plant identification. While some readers might have desired inclusion of typical native perennials or shrubs or that the poetic language might be beyond the comprehension of young readers, other readers should be impressed with rich visual and textual celebration of a few good trees.
November 9, 2020
What a lovely book about trees. Each bifold shows a different type of tree and celebrates it's special qualities. A couple of the pages orient vertically rather than horizontally. Some good opportunities for vocabulary (ermine, castanets, armor, canapes, baubles, kimono). A nice quiet read. Could use for a smaller storytime or read aloud. Would lead into a nice discussion about what is your favorite tree? Do you recognize any of these trees in your yard or on your street?
August 25, 2021
I read this on a "story walk." It was cool to try to identify the next tree by sight, before getting close enough to read the text. This seems like a great book for a read-aloud, and then to have in the classroom for curious young readers to look at again and again at their leisure. The illustrations are beautiful. They're not completely photo-realistic, but the art style matches each of the trees. The texts are creative and dreamy, and a great way to introduce children to poetic language.
September 7, 2019
Editors, THIS is poetry! Please make some of your other authors work a little harder at word choice and rhythm. Rich vocabulary - castanets shimmer, canapes of sunshine and pollen, fuzzy round baubles, akilter / unkempt, struts in royal ermine robes. I have ideas for using this for lessons ...
April 15, 2021
Beautiful illustrations and I dig the concept of helping young readers to identify different trees. As other readers have noted, it is a bit distracting that the trees have been assigned genders in the text.
September 1, 2018
Short, thoughtful poems and exquisite illustrations--a beautiful book.
March 3, 2019
Fourteen different trees, each with its own unique story to tell in short, evocative poems. Striking illustrations rendered as a digital collage of block print and hand painted elements.
May 1, 2019
Very, very enjoyable! The book made me look at different trees in a new way.
May 2, 2019
Lovely poems focusing on different trees, the illustrations are nice
May 3, 2019
Beautiful Illustrations!
May 22, 2019
My favorite is the one about White Pine but all are beautifully illustrated and written.
June 3, 2019
3.5 stars - Quiet, peaceful picture book in verse. The collage illustrations are a gorgeous accompaniment. My only issue is this feels more like a book for parents than children.
June 18, 2019
Stunning! I love this so much! The illustrations are gorgeous and the information provided about each tree is both educational and beautifully written.
July 2, 2019
Short poems about specific types of trees. Nice illustrations
August 3, 2019
4 stars for a perfect blend of poem and illustration
August 14, 2019
gorgeous illustrations
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews