The Wind and the Trees

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.