Many of us go through life not properly thinking about how our actions affect nature. We pave over a wild meadow, cut down trees, and throw trash out of car windows without considering that doing these things will change the lives of countless animals and plants.
Today's picture book in very minimal and yet it shows to great effect how two people learn that sometimes we need to change our plans to accommodate the needs of others.
The Tree: A Fable
Today's picture book in very minimal and yet it shows to great effect how two people learn that sometimes we need to change our plans to accommodate the needs of others.
The Tree: A Fable
Neal Layton
Picture Book
For ages 4 to 6
Candlewick Press, 2016, 978-0-7636-8952-0
On the side of a mountain there is a tall tree, standing
on its own. The tree provides many different kinds of animals with a home. A
bird’s nest sits high up near the top of the tree. Lower down there is a
squirrel’s nest, and in the trunk of the tree a family of owls lives in a
hollow. Deep beneath the tree a family of rabbits lives in a series of burrows.
What these
animals don’t know is that the tree is standing on a piece of land that is for
sale. One day a young couple drives up in a pickup truck that is loaded down
with building supplies and tools. They have bought the land and they plan on
building their dream house right where the tree is standing. The first thing that
they are going to have to do is to get rid of the tree, and so they start
sawing away at the trunk.
As they saw
through the wood, their cuts makes the tree’s trunk vibrate. The parent owl
flees from its hollow, the bird nest falls to the earth, and the rabbits rush
out from their burrow and run away. The couple looks down and they see the nest
full of baby birds lying on the ground. They are expecting a baby of their own
and seeing the little babies in such dire straits breaks their hearts. What
have they done?
All too often we
humans do not see that our actions have a negative impact on the environment.
We do not see the homeless animals and the scarred landscape. This incredibly
simple yet powerful story shows to great effect how important it is to have
compassion for all living things, and how, with a little creativity, we can
cohabit with our wild animal neighbors.
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