Review by Booklist Review
The team that brought us Bees: A Honeyed History (2017) returns with a similar formula of in-depth exploration, historical contextualization, and engrossing illustration this time regarding our favorite arboreal friends. While the first half focuses on the tree as scientific subject presenting various species and biological components the book branches out to explore them further as natural resources, cultural artifacts, and inspirational figures. The authors go so far as to address common metaphors such as family trees and fictional trees like J. R. R. Tolkien's ents. The bulk of each oversize, double-page spread is dedicated to the visuals, with only a column at the edge holding text. The supplied information is just right detailed enough without being tiresome but the magic comes from the illustrations, which, with the exception of the cartoonish expressions, are drawn with detail and vivid color. It bears mentioning that many of the human figures, inserted for scale and flavor, are cultural stereotypes. Otherwise, this book continues the tradition of high-quality nonfiction. A necessary addition to any bookshelf that can bear its considerable size.--Ronny Khuri Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This expansive volume takes a holistic approach to the topic of trees in nature, history, and the imagination, moving from strictly botanical content into tangential topics. The oversize spreads identify and compare tree species and tree-dwelling animals; substantive sidebars accompany each section. An illustration of tree rings places human history into perspective: "During the lifetime of this one tree, the Olmec, Aztec, and Maya civilizations blossomed and died out." Spreads explore human uses for wood, show a fictionalized family tree, and depict tree monsters within mythology and literature. Grajkowski's illustration style vacillates between naturalistic and playful; humans have exaggerated, cartoonish features, while trees and insects resemble specimens from vintage natural history tomes. Through the multiangled perspective, Socha and Grajkowski subtly allude to the way that branches of knowledge cross-pollinate and interconnect. All ages. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
This large (10.75 by 17.75 inches) Polish import has equally large illustrations, complementing facts about generic and specific trees' lives, deaths, and after-death usesand many more tree-related topics.This is a book that encourages readers to flip through its pages; every double-page spread is chock-full of colorful, stylized, eye-catching art that takes up most of the space. The text, confined to one vertical margin per spread, is accessible if a bit prosaic (though occasionally florid)and it covers a forest of categories. There are simplified explanations of how to distinguish a tree from other plants; photosynthesis; evolution; fossilization; how to fell a tree; uses by humans and animals; and more. Besides expected data about the world's tallest and broadest trees, there is a fascinating timeline showing various points in human history during the life of CBR26, a giant sequoia cut down around 1900. Facts such as the existence of "living bridges" in India and rot-resistant pine in Norwegian churches motivate readers to seek more information elsewhere. There are some missed opportunities for exciting art, and it is puzzling why most, but not all, illustrations are carefully labeled. The retro style of the art spills into stereotypical renderings of people; the text, in kind, uses B.C. and A.D. and, in its section entitled "Trees in Religion," describes the Quran as "the holy book of Islam"but offers no description of "the Bible" and uses "myth" or "mythology" to describe non-Abrahamic cosmologies.A good book for browsing or for starting tree-related research. (Informational picture book. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
