DO TREES HAVE MOTHERS?
by Charles Bongers illustrated by Charles Bongers
Nuts the Squirrel explains how mother trees protect seedlings in this picture book.
Like pigs, ducklings, dogs, and cats, trees have mothers—who protect their babies from insects, filter pollution, and provide water to saplings in times of scarcity. “Mother trees are easy to spot,” Nuts says, “they’re the tall ones in the middle of all their babies.” Forest ecosystems are not just about animal life. Bongers’ story offers a refreshing exploration of how plants “talk” to one another that is useful in part because of its simplicity and visual appeal. The author’s offbeat, digital art wavers between the cartoonish and the near psychedelic. Nuts has bulging eyes and a funky little smile, and he’s accompanied by silly props to illustrate the actions he describes. But the transfer of information and water between tree root systems appears as a subterranean, swirling network in contrasting, complementary colors. Information about the world appears as small white lines and circles traveling from deep, mature roots to a sapling’s smaller ones. Satisfying symmetry and halos of pale light around the crowns of trees bring a nearly spiritual tone to the pictures even as cartoon animals goof off nearby. Endmatter helps adults find more information on mother trees and their place in the forest ecosystem.
An engaging, effectively illustrated introduction to a rarely covered nature subject for young readers.