The Wind and the Trees
- Type: Books
- By: Todd Stewart
- Age Category: Children
- Genre: General Fiction
- Recommended by: Tom S.
- ISBN/UPC: 9781771474337 Check Catalog
A Meditation on the Timelessness of the Natural World
A majestic White Pine shows its younger neighbor how to embrace the cycle of life, death, and rebirth in this Canadian import. Minimal text takes a back seat and allows the glorious illustrations to propel the story forward as the old tree grows, releases seeds, and eventually falls in a windstorm.
Thematically similar to "As an Oak Tree Grows" by G. Brian Karas, which traces the lifespan of a huge oak, the presentation is quite different. Karas’s backgrounds are busy depicting the changes in the landscape – both natural and human-made – that the tree witnesses through its long life. Stewart’s book, on the other hand, is unconcerned with human history. In fact, the generous-sized spreads never even show the ground, inviting the reader to put aside human preoccupations with chronology and instead contemplate the timelessness of the trees’ lifecycle.