The Tree in the Ancient Forest

Loved the trees

I give this 5 stars even though it was a used book, because I'm so grateful to have gotten it. It combines art & poetry in a mesmerizing way. The cumulative tale is so beautifully illustrated by paintings that are at once lovely & scientifically enlightening.

A lavishly illustrated treasure of a book. And to me, illustration is everything. I have purchased this book more than once.

This book has wonderfully bold, creatively designed illustrations which makes it enjoyable to flip through. But the plodding text makes it impossible to read! Cumulative verse can be very fun and effective, but in this book the author made no attempt to create a lyrical "chorus" that kids would be able to chime in on when being read to, or even that adults would be able to read aloud pleasantly. The point of the interconnectedness of life in an ecosystem doesn't come across well in the story alone... only by reading the letter from the author at the beginning and the pages of notes at the end do you get the full picture of what the book is trying to say. I think the concept of the book was great, but it failed miserably in execution, thanks to the poorly written verse.

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.Carol Reed-Jones has created a lyrical story of life around an old-growth fir tree, & Christopher Canyon's illustrations are bright, powerful & absorbing.A keeper, its story is delightful & its images memorable.

I purchased this as a gift for my daughter's teacher. I love the poem-like story explaining how everything is connected to something else. The pictures are very beautiful with a lot of detail.

Beautiful pictures!