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The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest

Amazon.com Price:  $3.99 (as of 09/05/2019 03:40 PST- Details)

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Description

The writer and artist Lynne Cherry journeyed deep into the rain forests of Brazil to write and illustrate her gorgeous picture book The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest (1990). Sooner or later, a man exhausts himself trying to chop down a giant kapok tree. Even as he sleeps, the forest’s residents, including a child from the Yanomamo tribe, whisper in his ear about the importance of trees and how “all living things depend on one another” . . . and it works. Cherry’s lovingly rendered colored pencil and watercolor drawings of all of the “wondrous and rare animals” evoke the lush rain forests, in addition to stunning world maps bordered by tree porcupines, emerald tree boas, and dozens more fascinating creatures.

Awards: IRA Teacher’s Choice (1991), ABA’s Pick of the Lists, Reading Rainbow Review Book, NSTA-CBC Outstanding Trade Book for Children
If a tree falls in the forest… someone or something will all the time be there to hear it. Many, many creatures will feel the effects when their source of sustenance and shelter falls to the earth. So when a man is sent into the Amazon rain forest Sooner or later, under instructions to chop down a great kapok tree, many eyes watch him nervously. It isn’t long before he grows tired, though, and the “heat and hum” of the rain forest lulls him to sleep. Separately, snakes, bees, monkeys, birds, frogs, and even a jaguar emerge from the jungle canopy to plead with the sleeping ax-man to spare their home. When the man awakens, startled at all of the rare and marvelous animals surrounding him, he picks up his ax as if to begin chopping again, then drops it and walks away, presumably never to go back.

Unfortunately, there’s all the time someone else who is willing to take his place, but the message of this environmental book is plain: Save the rain forest! The story itself isn’t overly compelling, but each personalized entreaty from the animals provides an accurate and persuasive scientific argument for preserving nature’s gifts. Lynne Cherry’s fertile watercolor and colored-pencil illustrations, including a map of the tropical rain forests of the world, are vivid and colorful. A fine starting point for a discussion about conservation. (Ages 4 to 8) –Emilie Coulter

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