Trees: A Rooted History – Book Review

Book Review
Trees: A Rooted History
Written by Wojciech Grajkowski
Illustrated by Piotr Socha
Translated by Anna Burgess

Why we chose this book:
We loved Bees by this team, and were excited to see that a new title was coming out! Abrams Books for Young Readers provided a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Mom's Review

This is another oversize treasure by a brilliant team, and it truly is a history of trees. Beginning with an explanation of trees, their importance in the ecosystem, and their relationship with humankind, Trees progresses into more specific topics. Readers can move straight through, or hop around. We do the latter, reading a page or few at a time. From roots to seeds, from lumberjack tools to famous structures and modes of transport, and from bonsai to baobab, we journeyed around the world and back to prehistoric times. Fans of Sorcha's other books can expect Trees to flow in the same vein. Newcomers to Sorcha's work will see enchanting illustrations depicting myriad trees, tree parts, and tree-related whatnot (think da Vinci's ornithopter and Tolkien's Treebeard.

There were so many appealing sections of the book for T, but he most consistently liked the tree house, tree monster, and vehicles pages. It certainly helps that we were both delighted by the pop-up ornithopter in Leonardo Pop-Ups and that T has an appreciation for Greek myths and Vikings. Seeing a recognizable da Vinci invention, the Trojan horse, and a Viking longboat fostered his connection with not just the transportation topic, but with the book as a whole. In fact, whether your reader is an aspiring botanist, musician, or architect, I expect that he or she will find something special in these pages. The final sentiment that Sorcha and Grajkowski leave us with is one of preservation and respect for nature. Deforestation has far-reaching impact, and while planting trees is important, preserving what we have provides greater protection. "Future generations deserve a forest like the one our ancestors had, a forest of trees that will live for centuries."

Son's Review

Tree Monsters by T and Piotr Socha

(Age: 4)
On favorite pages:
"I like a few – the monster page and the treehouse page. I wonder if we like the same one. Did you know there is one only for tea parties? There is one that holds so many people! And the forest page, where it says 'the gingerbread house.'"

On what he learned: "I liked learning about all the monster stories!"

On wooden vehicles: "I would want to ride all those. I wouldn't be afraid. I'd like to own all of those!"

There was a definite theme to T's preferences: the familiar.