How Trees Help Me

Susan Brown is a B.C. horticulturist, permaculture designer, and early
childhood education instructor.

These three classroom-oriented books, part of the Primary Ecology
series, feature in their illustrations a dozen or so multiracial
children. In a series seemingly concerned with racial balance, the
illustration that shows children of color imagining cave people and
ancient Egyptians who appear white is an unfortunate oversight.

How Trees Help Us offers very basic and carefully stated text on
“What is a tree?” “A tree is born,” “How a tree dies,”
“Dangers to trees,” and “How you can help trees.” There is a
story about the good-luck Ginko tree, a number of “I love this tree”
poems by children, and a story entitled “The Troll and the Tree.”
Two delightful pages with photographs show how we can “troll a tree”
ourselves.

I Am a Part of Nature deserves special mention for relating significant
ecological concepts to children’s direct and shared experience of
nature.

The illustrations are outstanding. High-quality photographic images
fill half to two-thirds of each page, while various artists contribute
to the occasional hand-illustrated page.

These books would make either fine primary-school science texts or
short ecology units. Given their all-round excellence, they would
equally benefit public and home libraries.