The wind and the trees

This quietly striking debut features a pine sapling in conversation with an elder tree. Alternating pages center each tree in vibrant, fantastically colored silk-screened pages; text above each indicates their respective lines of dialogue. As the years pass, the naive sapling learns from the more mature tree. While the constantly blowing wind "pulls and shapes" the trees, stretching their roots, drying them out, and breaking them apart, it also serves numerous positive uses: disseminating seeds, strengthening the trees' roots and bark, and carrying "messages and signals to other trees in the forest." But the years also bring inversely prosperous appearances for each tree, culminating in a storm that changes everything. This spare, contemplative picture book focuses on a compassionate intergenerational relationship, transcending scientific instruction to offer a metaphysical musing on life and death. Ages 4--8. (Mar.)

Two neighboring pine trees converse about the effects of natural forces in the first title that Canadian artist Stewart has also authored. A sapling on the verso greets a mature specimen on the recto; they appear to be Scotch pines, the taller tree displaying discrete, undulating shapes poised at the tip of each branch. Even though they present a repeated perspective, the breathtaking silk-screened scenes are full of drama and movement, offering a range of moods as the colors and textures of the backgrounds and trees change. A wondrous spread features a purple, starlit sky with wind-swept, turquoise trees, one sheltering a raccoon. Green, snow-dusted branches hold an eagle's nest against a peaceful gray sky. Stewart's text develops a convincing relationship that suggests a wise, nurturing elder and an eager, loyal youth, all the while incorporating recent findings about tree communication and established science. The dangers caused by wind are described--stretched roots, dryness, breakage--as are the benefits: "my roots grow deeper and my bark becomes stronger. / The wind carries my messages…to other trees in the forest." Sharp eyes will notice the subtle growth and deterioration, respectively, on either side of the gutter. A golden, wordless absence--and a new page that recalls the departed tree's positive thoughts--provides a satisfying conclusion, as does the emergence of a new seedling. Arresting art and an intelligent dialogue speak movingly to the realities of universal life cycles. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.