Be a Tree

This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.

This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.

This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.

This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.

Written by Maria Gianferrari Illustrated by Felicita Sala Abrams Books for Young Readers New York

This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.

Written by Maria Gianferrari Illustrated by Felicita Sala Abrams Books for Young Readers New York

The illustrations in this book were made with watercolor, gouache, and colored pencils.

Special thanks to Geoffrey Parker at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center for sharing his expertise.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Gianferrari, Maria, author. | Sala, Felicita, illustrator.

Title: Be a tree! / written by Maria Gianferrari ; illustrated by Felicita Sala. Description: New York : Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references. | Audience: Ages 4 to 8. | Summary: Compares the structures and functions of trees to human bodies, shows the interconnectness and dependence of trees in a forest, and urges readers to communicate, share, and care for one another. Includes notes on the anatomy of a tree, ways to help save trees, and how to help in one's community.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020013316 | ISBN 9781419744228 (hardcover) Subjects: CYAC: Trees--Fiction. | Community life--Fiction.

Classification: LCC PZ7.G339028 Be 2021 | DDC [E]--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013316

For all trees.

And in memory of Gracie King, lover of giraffes.

—M. G.

ISBN 978-1-4197-4422-8 Text copyright © 2021 Maria Gianferrari Illustrations copyright © 2021 Felicita Sala Book design by Jade Rector

This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

Published in 2021 by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS. Not for resale, duplication, or in a retrieval system, All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any formPlease or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, reposting. do not quote without recording, or otherwise, without permission from the publisher. comparison to written the finished book.

Printed and bound in China 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Abrams Books for Young Readers are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification.

For details, contact specialsales@abramsbooks.com or the address below.

Abrams® is a registered trademark of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

For Nina and Niccolò, may your roots go deep and your branches reach high.

With love, —F. S.

The illustrations in this book were made with watercolor, gouache, and colored pencils.

Special thanks to Geoffrey Parker at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center for sharing his expertise.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Gianferrari, Maria, author. | Sala, Felicita, illustrator.

Title: Be a tree! / written by Maria Gianferrari ; illustrated by Felicita Sala. Description: New York : Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references. | Audience: Ages 4 to 8. | Summary: Compares the structures and functions of trees to human bodies, shows the interconnectness and dependence of trees in a forest, and urges readers to communicate, share, and care for one another. Includes notes on the anatomy of a tree, ways to help save trees, and how to help in one's community.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020013316 | ISBN 9781419744228 (hardcover) Subjects: CYAC: Trees--Fiction. | Community life--Fiction.

Classification: LCC PZ7.G339028 Be 2021 | DDC [E]--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013316

For all trees.

And in memory of Gracie King, lover of giraffes.

—M. G.

ISBN 978-1-4197-4422-8 Text copyright © 2021 Maria Gianferrari Illustrations copyright © 2021 Felicita Sala Book design by Jade Rector Published in 2021 by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Printed and bound in China 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Abrams Books for Young Readers are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification.

For details, contact specialsales@abramsbooks.com or the address below.

Abrams® is a registered trademark of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

For Nina and Niccolò, may your roots go deep and your branches reach high.

With love, This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

—F.duplication, S. Not for resale, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.

Be a tree!

This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.

Stand tall.

Stretch your branches to the sun.

Be a tree!

Stand tall.

Stretch your branches to the sun.

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Let your roots curl, coil in the soil to ground you.

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Let your roots curl, coil in the soil to ground you.

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Your spine is a trunk, giving you shape, holding your crown,

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channeling your food.

Your spine is a trunk, giving you shape, holding your crown, channeling your food.

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This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

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Your skin is bark: dead on the outside, protecting what’s within.

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Your skin is bark: dead on the outside, protecting what’s within.

Beneath your bark are layers, such as sapwood, carrying nutrients to help you grow bigger and taller;

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and heartwood, strong as bone, to support you.

Beneath your bark are layers, such as sapwood, carrying nutrients

and heartwood, strong as bone, to support you.

to help you grow bigger and taller;

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In your heart’s center is your pith, keeper of nutrients when you were a sapling.

This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

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In your heart’s center is your pith, keeper of nutrients when you were a sapling.

This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.

High above, your crown may be round, weeping pyramidal broad.

Let it spread, shine overhead, collecting sun filtering dust shading your roots on hot days.

This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.

High above, your crown may be round, weeping pyramidal broad.

Let it spread, shine overhead, collecting sun filtering dust shading your roots on hot days.

This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.

Wave your leaves in the wind, breathe in air, drink in sun, let them fuel you and the world.

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Wave your leaves in the wind, breathe in air, drink in sun, let them fuel you and the world.

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Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.

See yourself, branches and leaves above, roots This below, is an advance, uncorrected proof. trunk in-between: Not for resale, duplication, or

reposting.

Please do not quote without you are a tree. comparison to the finished book.

See yourself, branches and leaves above, roots below, trunk in-between: you are a tree.

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And now, look around you— you are not alone.

You are one of many trees.

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And now, look around you— you are not alone.

You are one of many trees.

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Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.

Our roots twine with fungi, joining all trees in the forest together.

We talk, share food, store water, divide resources, alert each other

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to danger.

Our roots

We talk,

twine with fungi,

share food,

joining all trees

store water,

in the forest together.

divide resources, alert each other

This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.

to danger.

A wood wide web of information.

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A wood wide web of information.

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We purify the air.

We anchor the soil, preventing erosion.

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Our dome of joined crowns swings and straightens, slowing high winds.

We purify the air.

We anchor the soil, preventing erosion.

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Our dome of joined crowns swings and straightens, slowing high winds.

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Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without Our bodies and and book. roots are homes comparison to branches the finished to birds and mammals and insects.

We sustain ecosystems.

Our bodies and branches and roots are homes to birds and mammals and insects.

We sustain ecosystems.

This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.

This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without Immigrant trees, comparison to the finished book. away from their native habitats, are vulnerable.

Immigrant trees, away from their native habitats, are vulnerable.

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Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.

Mother trees nurse young trees.

Old trees shade new trees.

But together,

Strong trees shelter weak trees.

a forest of trees is strong.

Healthy trees help sick trees.

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Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.

Mother trees nurse young trees.

But together, a forest of trees is strong.

Old trees shade new trees.

Strong trees shelter weak trees.

Healthy trees help sick trees.

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Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.

A family, a community, a country, a cosmos.

There is enough for all.

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A family, a community, a country, a cosmos.

There is enough for all.

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This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

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So, be a tree.

For together,

we are a forest.

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So, be a tree.

For together,

we are a forest.

Five Ways You Can Help Save Trees

1. Recycle all paper products, and use fewer by:

Author’s Note

Though I’ve always loved trees, especially climbing them as a young girl, my love and

admiration for them has deepened considerably since reading Peter Wohlleben’s

• Choosing cloth towels, napkins, and handkerchiefs instead of paper ones

• Selecting recycled paper products wherever possible • Bringing a lunchbox instead of paper or plastic bags • Using cloth shopping bags rather than paper or plastic bags

and coordinate their photosynthesis rates so that they can all flourish. There was

2. Plant native trees and help preserve mature trees in your community 3. Stage a community clean-up 4. Host a fundraiser or bake sale and donate the proceeds to an environmental organization. Here are some suggestions:

even a story of how neighboring trees kept a tree stump alive for hundreds of years

The Hidden Life of Trees. I learned that trees in a forest help protect and care for each other, like family members. Trees with extra sugar share with their neighbors

by sharing sugar!

Trees communicate news—information about insects, droughts, or other

• Friends of the Earth: foei.org • The Nature Conservancy: nature.org • The Wilderness Society: wilderness.org • Sierra Club: sierraclub.org • The National Wildlife Federation: nwf.org

dangers—through their intersecting roots, with the help of special fungal networks

affectionately called the “wood wide web.” Roots and fungi are partners in forest

5. Celebrate Arbor Day: arborday.org/celebrate

ecosystems, exchanging vital nutrients and learning from their joined neural-like

Be a Forest: How You Can Help in Your Community

pathways. Immigrant trees, those transplanted and disconnected from their own

This is an advance, uncorrected proof. natural habitat networks, are therefore vulnerable to Not for resale,more duplication, ordamage from insects, reposting. droughts, or other threats. Please do not quote without to the finished book.They give creatures Together, treescomparison help sustain microclimates and ecosystems.

toothbrushes, shampoo, razors, books, and other supplies

homes and food—there is nothing better than a shady tree on a hot day. We marvel

at their beauty, their ancient elegance. We must do our best to protect them, and

we can also learn much as a society from their social system. If we behaved like trees in a forest, by protecting each other and sharing resources of all kinds, the world would be a much better place!

• Visit with “grandfriends,” residents at your local nursing home • Set up a buddy system with the special needs program at your school • Make care kits for homeless shelter residents including diapers, combs, • Volunteer at your local animal shelter, or read to shelter dogs and cats • Stage a supply drive for food, treats, toys, towels, and blankets for your local animal shelter

• Send cards to soldiers serving overseas • Hold a bake sale fundraiser for your favorite charity or organization • Plant native flowers in your garden and neighborhood to attract birds, bees, and butterflies

What other ways can you be like a tree in your community?

Five Ways You Can Help Save Trees

1. Recycle all paper products, and use fewer by:

Author’s Note

Though I’ve always loved trees, especially climbing them as a young girl, my love and

admiration for them has deepened considerably since reading Peter Wohlleben’s

• Choosing cloth towels, napkins, and handkerchiefs instead of paper ones

• Selecting recycled paper products wherever possible • Bringing a lunchbox instead of paper or plastic bags • Using cloth shopping bags rather than paper or plastic bags

and coordinate their photosynthesis rates so that they can all flourish. There was

2. Plant native trees and help preserve mature trees in your community 3. Stage a community clean-up 4. Host a fundraiser or bake sale and donate the proceeds to an environmental organization. Here are some suggestions:

even a story of how neighboring trees kept a tree stump alive for hundreds of years

The Hidden Life of Trees. I learned that trees in a forest help protect and care for each other, like family members. Trees with extra sugar share with their neighbors

by sharing sugar!

Trees communicate news—information about insects, droughts, or other

• Friends of the Earth: foei.org • The Nature Conservancy: nature.org • The Wilderness Society: wilderness.org • Sierra Club: sierraclub.org • The National Wildlife Federation: nwf.org

dangers—through their intersecting roots, with the help of special fungal networks

affectionately called the “wood wide web.” Roots and fungi are partners in forest

5. Celebrate Arbor Day: arborday.org/celebrate

ecosystems, exchanging vital nutrients and learning from their joined neural-like

Be a Forest: How You Can Help in Your Community This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

pathways. Immigrant trees, those transplanted and disconnected from their own natural habitat networks, are therefore more vulnerable to damage from insects,

droughts, or other threats.

Together, trees help sustain microclimates and ecosystems. They give creatures

toothbrushes, shampoo, razors, books, and other supplies

homes and food—there is nothing better than a shady tree on a hot day. We marvel

at their beauty, their ancient elegance. We must do our best to protect them, and

we can also learn much as a society from their social system. If we behaved like trees in a forest, by protecting each other and sharing resources of all kinds, the world would be a much better place!

residents duplication, at your local nursing • Visit with “grandfriends,” Not for resale, or home buddy systemPlease with the special needs program at your school • Set up areposting. do not quote without for homeless shelter residents including diapers, combs, • Make care kits comparison to the finished book.

• Volunteer at your local animal shelter, or read to shelter dogs and cats • Stage a supply drive for food, treats, toys, towels, and blankets for your local animal shelter

• Send cards to soldiers serving overseas • Hold a bake sale fundraiser for your favorite charity or organization • Plant native flowers in your garden and neighborhood to attract birds, bees, and butterflies

What other ways can you be like a tree in your community?

Anatomy of a Tree 1

is a tree’s armor, 6 Bark protecting it from harsh weather, damage from insects and animals, and in some species, from fire damage.

1

7

Leaves contain chlorophyll, a special

pigment that gives them their green color.

Through a process known as photosynthesis, leaves use energy from the sun to convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and water from the soil into sugar and oxygen. The tree either uses the sugar for food, or stores it in its roots, trunk, and branches. The oxygen is released back into the atmosphere, where it helps people and creatures breathe.

from the leaves to the rest of the tree. hold up the crown, give trees 9 Trunks their shape, and carry water and nutrients

2

found in the soil up from the roots to the leaves, like a plumbing system. They also carry sugar down from the leaves to the branches and roots.

6 7

provide shade; they filter dust and other pollutants—such as spores, pollen, even fog and mist—from the air; they collect energy from the sun through photosynthesis; and they allow the tree to keep cool by “sweating” out extra water, a process known as transpiration.

or reposting. Please do not quote without to the in place, absorb water and finished book.

4 Roots anchor a treecomparison

are attached to a tree’s roots. Together 5 Fungi they partner to exchange vital nutrients: the tree shares its carbon with the fungi, and the fungi share minerals from the soil with the tree. Fungi also help trees absorb even more nutrients than they’d be able to on their own.

9 10

Not for resale, duplication, to store extra sugar, which trees need for energy.

4

, growing tissue, 10 Cambium produces new cells and a tree’s

8

3

This is an advance, Branches support leaves, channel water anduncorrected nutrients, and help proof.

nutrients from the soil, and store sugar. Roots extend through the earth horizontally and can be as wide as a tree is tall. Some trees also have taproots, which descend vertically. Each root has small hairs to enhance its ability to take in water and minerals from the soil.

dead cells.

bark, also known as phloem, is 8 Inner the food pipeline, carrying sugar down

consist of the leaves and branches of the top 2 Crowns of a tree. They come in different sizes and shapes. They

3

Outer Bark is made up of

11 12 5

13

growth rings. It makes the trunk, branches, and roots widen in diameter as the tree grows.

11 Sapwood, also known as xylem,

carries water and nutrients up from the tree’s roots through the trunk to the leaves and other tree parts. As a tree grows, living sapwood cells die and form the tree’s heartwood.

, though dead, is the hardest 12 Heartwood wood in a tree’s center. It gives the tree its strength and support.

13 Pith, soft tissue found in the very center

of a tree’s trunk, forms as the stem of a sapling grows. It holds key nutrients for sapling growth, then dries up as the tree ages.

Anatomy of a Tree 1

is a tree’s armor, 6 Bark protecting it from harsh weather, damage from insects and animals, and in some species, from fire damage.

1

7

Leaves contain chlorophyll, a special

pigment that gives them their green color.

Through a process known as photosynthesis, leaves use energy from the sun to convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and water from the soil into sugar and oxygen. The tree either uses the sugar for food, or stores it in its roots, trunk, and branches. The oxygen is released back into the atmosphere, where it helps people and creatures breathe.

from the leaves to the rest of the tree. hold up the crown, give trees 9 Trunks their shape, and carry water and nutrients

2

7 8

3

to store extra sugar, which trees need for energy.

4 Roots anchor a tree in place, absorb water and

tree shares its carbon with the fungi, and the fungi share minerals from the soil with the tree. Fungi also help trees absorb even more nutrients than they’d be able to on their own.

4

, growing tissue, 10 Cambium produces new cells and a tree’s

9

growth rings. It makes the trunk, branches, and roots widen in diameter as the tree grows.

10 This is an advance, uncorrected proof. , also known as xylem, 11 Sapwood Not for resale, duplication, or carries water and nutrients up reposting. 11 Please do not quote from thewithout tree’s roots through the trunk to comparison to the finished book. the leaves and other tree parts. As a tree

Branches support leaves, channel water and nutrients, and help

are attached to a tree’s roots. Together 5 Fungi they partner to exchange vital nutrients: the

found in the soil up from the roots to the leaves, like a plumbing system. They also carry sugar down from the leaves to the branches and roots.

6

provide shade; they filter dust and other pollutants—such as spores, pollen, even fog and mist—from the air; they collect energy from the sun through photosynthesis; and they allow the tree to keep cool by “sweating” out extra water, a process known as transpiration.

nutrients from the soil, and store sugar. Roots extend through the earth horizontally and can be as wide as a tree is tall. Some trees also have taproots, which descend vertically. Each root has small hairs to enhance its ability to take in water and minerals from the soil.

dead cells.

bark, also known as phloem, is 8 Inner the food pipeline, carrying sugar down

consist of the leaves and branches of the top 2 Crowns of a tree. They come in different sizes and shapes. They

3

Outer Bark is made up of

12 5

13

grows, living sapwood cells die and form the tree’s heartwood. , though dead, is the hardest 12 Heartwood wood in a tree’s center. It gives the tree its strength and support.

13 Pith, soft tissue found in the very center

of a tree’s trunk, forms as the stem of a sapling grows. It holds key nutrients for sapling growth, then dries up as the tree ages.

Further Reading and Viewing Hopkins, H. Joseph. The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever.

San Diego, CA: Beach Lane Books, 2013.

Hutchens, Verlie. Trees. San Diego, CA: Beach Lane Books, 2019.

Julivert, Maria Angeles. Trees. New York: Enchanted Lion Books, 2007.

Koch, Melissa. Forest Talk: How Trees Communicate. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books, 2019.

Sayre, April Pulley. Trout Are Made of Trees. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2008.

Schaefer, Lola, and Adam Schaefer. Because of an Acorn. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2016.

Simard, Suzanne. “How Trees Talk to Each Other.” Filmed June 2016 at TEDSummit, Banff, AB, Canada. See ted.com/talks/suzanne_simard_how_trees_talk_to_each_other Tudge, Colin. The Tree: A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live, and Why They Matter. New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2006.

Wohlleben, Peter. Can You Hear the Trees Talking?: Discovering the Hidden Life of the Forest. Vancouver, BC, Canada: Greystone Kids, 2019.

Wohlleben, Peter. The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from A Secret World. Vancouver, BC, Canada: Greystone Books, 2016.

This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison Arbor Day Foundation, “Anatomy of a Tree” to the finished book.

Websites

arborday.org/trees/treeguide/anatomy.cfm “Tree Activities for Kids” fantasticfunandlearning.com/tree-activities-for-kids.html National Environmental Education Foundation, “Tree Toolkit: Lessons and Educator Resources for Teaching About Trees” neefusa.org/nature/land/tree-toolkit The Teacher’s Guide, “Trees/Arbor Day Lesson Plans” theteachersguide.com/arbordaylessonplans.htm American Forests, “Mission Statement” for promoting forest conservation and restoration americanforests.org/explore-forests/why-forests-matter/

This is an advance, uncorrected proof.

Not for resale, duplication, or reposting. Please do not quote without comparison to the finished book.