Tree

by | Mar 2024

Tree by Claire Saxby bookcover

Tree

Release Date: 3 April 2024

Author Claire Saxby

Illustrated by Jess Racklyeft

Published by Allen & Unwin

ISBN: 9781761069505

Can you see the forest on this misty-morning mountain? Can you see where the tree stands? It is the tallest in this forest of tall trees. This tree is older than those who find it, younger than the land it grows from.

In the vein of Iceberg – marrying deep scientific research, lyrical language and stunning illustrations – multi-award-winning and highly acclaimed creators Claire Saxby and Jess Racklyeft return with a change in environment, from ocean to land. Their new collaboration follows a mighty tree, from the bottom of its roots up to the tips of its upper branches.

 

Reviews

  Tree

27 February 2024    Books+Publishing    

Tree, by multi-award-winning picture book creators Claire Saxby and Jess Racklyeft, explores the life of a mighty mountain ash, the tallest in a forest of tall trees. Similar to their previous collaboration, Iceberg, which won the 2022 CBCA Picture Book of the Year Award, this new work combines educational facts about nature with charming language and striking illustrations. It also offers a fold-out page showcasing the full length of this forest giant (not to scale!). The world of the tree is multifaceted, and beyond its roots that drink water and its leaves that use light to make energy, it also provides shelter and sustenance for a variety of creatures, big and small. Within this world, slaters curl by the layered leaf litter, a robin perches on a wattle branch, and a greater glider makes a home in a hollow. We see the various ways the tree supports the life around it from day to night, with the artwork illuminating the different colours of the landscape and the details of the fauna. Tree invites readers into the forest, asking them to close their eyes to imagine the sounds and breathe in the fresh air. Curious young minds aged 5+ will lap up this journey of discovery. Full Article

Books+Publishing reviewer: Karys McEwen is a librarian, bookseller, author, and the vice president of CBCA VIC Branch.

Today I’m reviewing new release “Tree” by Claire Saxby and Jess Racklyeft, a narrative non-fiction story about a 300 year old mountain ash tree. It’s an absolutely beautiful book.  Kid Lit Joy YouTube Review

A stunning look at a tree, from its roots to the upper branches, its bark and leaves, the animals that live on and in it and depend upon it for their survival.

The opening pages are stunning, welcoming the reader to peer through the mists of the morning to spy the tree, older than us, younger than the earth it springs from. As each page is turned new information is given about the tree: the tree breathes in the air we breathe out, its roots share food, birds, like a lyrebird, thrush, wren etc scratch the litter beneath for their meal, lizards and echidnas use its undergrowth for their survival. Rain feeds the trees, pools attracting birds and animals: the treecreeper, rosellas and possums all call it home, and at night possums come out from their hollow, a glider surveys the night sky, while down on the ground, a wombat tears at the grass, wallabies thump by, a bush rat digs and a boo-boo owl swoops.  Full Article

Review by Fran Knight

 

 

Native trees in their native environment are linked to a great number of other animals, plants, and microorganisms.  In her book Tree, Claire Saxby and illustrator Jess Racklyeft take readers young and old into the hidden world amongst a giant tree’s roots, trunk, branches and upper leaves where all sorts of animals and other plants thrive….. Full Interview

Interview by Robin Williams – ABC Listen Science Show