THE TALES OF SEBASTIAN THE ASH

In Poilé’s middle-grade novel, an ash tree tells stories about its eventful life.

Weaving real-world information about nature’s life cycles into soulful storytelling, this debut work of middle-grade fiction, illustrated with black-and-white drawings by the author, features an unusual first-person narrator. Sebastian, an ash tree with deep thoughts who often speaks directly to the reader, relates tales from his earthy, seedpod origin to his deaths and continual rebirths over millennia. At its heart, the book is a surprising love story—Sebastian professes his devotion to Marion, a boulder “as old as the Earth itself” whose “timeless wisdom” shines through “the neon lichens and soft mosses” on her slate-gray surface. Sebastian describes what it’s like to be a tree, “photosynthesizing…in a particularly scrumptious batch of sunlight,” how snow on his branches feels “like a soft down blanket,” and what it’s like being tickled by the wind or having his itchy bark pleasurably scratched by the claws of squirrels. The book’s theme of the interconnectedness of life delves further into fantasy in the chapter “Magic in the Forest” as Marion, Sebastian, other trees, blackberry thickets, a water spring, and even the clouds work together to confuse a hunter and “spirit away” his prey—a deer. (Elsewhere, the inevitable outcome for prey in nature is addressed matter-of-factly.) Sebastian’s frequent philosophical waxings won’t be every reader’s cup of tea, but they are leavened by humor (such as a woodpecker’s hapless courting dance) and action. An invasion of tree-killing beetles involves a consultation with the “wood wide web”; extra nutrients thicken Sebastian’s bark for protection, and the life-or-death battle is won by an influx of toxic, microscopic fungi and helpful woodpeckers and wasps. The author makes the stakes clear with a chilling description of the beetles’ attack as they arrive with “teeny, sinister feet” scratching at Sebastian’s bark, looking for a “crevice in which to burrow.” In another story, Otis, a grumpy old oak tree, finds happiness in becoming a doting “grandpa” to fox kits. In an unexpected, touching epilogue, Sebastian and Marion’s love proves timeless.

A creative, often moving take on life cycles and tree science.