JUST ONE OAK

A joyous tribute to the many roles one living tree can take—from creating a microclimate to feeding and housing a wide variety of wild creatures.

In a mix of lyrical general statements and expansive notes in smaller type, Gianferrari describes how oaks offer a “dining room” for more types of moths and butterflies than any other native tree genus and a winter granary for woodpeckers, which drill holes where they stash acorns. The three million or so acorns each tree produces in its lifetime serve as both a “superfood” for white-tailed deer and homes for ants and insect larvae. Oak leaves that turn brown in fall “swirl off in spring, / right when they’re needed most” to support the tiny recyclers and decomposers of the “brown food web.” In her painted illustrations, Sudyka envisions a mature tree teeming with wildlife, from googly-eyed bugs to birds and bears—nearly all identified with discreet labels—as well as associated flora, fungi, and, in a final scene, a racially diverse set of young tree lovers. Moreover, along with absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, oaks (and other trees) “block wind in storms” and in urban environments provide cooling summer shade to counteract the “heat island effect.” “Just one oak,” the author concludes, “is beautiful and bountiful to all.” Backmatter includes suggestions for how young readers can “root for oaks.”

Offers plenty of cause to root for this keystone species.