The Tree in the Ancient Forest
Carol Reed-Jones (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
1995 Dawn Publications
ISBN: 1883220319
Illustrated by Christopher Canyon. On a single old fir tree a web of plants & animals weave a web of life.
Come into a deep, old northern forest where trees reach for the sky, hundreds of feet high. Where their roots beneath the duff, spread out in vast tendrils seeking food, creating food for voles & mice, who, in turn, are fattened up for the owls hunting for food for their owlets.
Come listen to the rat-ta-tat-tat of the woodpecker, hunting for insects that crawl between trunk & bark of this three-hundred-year-old tree that grows in the ancient forest.
Meet the squirrel & the marten as they scramble for cones on this three-hundred-year-old tree that grows in the ancient forest.
Carol Reed-Jones has created a lyrical story of life around an old-growth fir tree, & Christopher Canyon's illustrations are bright, powerful & absorbing.
As I was reading The Tree in the Ancient Forest, two other books came to mind. Tree in the Trail by Holling C. Holling, which tells the stories of hundreds of years through which one tree lives. The Ancient One by T. A. Barron is for teenage Readers who have a sense of wonder, magic & adventure about finding themselves enticed into a forest.
The Tree in the Ancient Forest is a keeper, its story is delightful & its images memorable.
RebeccasiReads.com
