Trees: Haiku from Roots to Leaves

“Through short haiku poems, the sci­ence and details of trees come to life. Read­ers will learn about life’s inter­con­nect­ed­ness with trees, how they change through the sea­sons, their growth, and their beau­ty … A time line, author’s note, glos­sary, bib­li­og­ra­phy, and resources for fur­ther explo­ration are includ­ed at the end, along with six pages of sci­en­tif­ic expla­na­tion. VERDICT This attrac­tive and edu­ca­tion­al poet­ry book will be a great addi­tion to poet­ry and nature study col­lec­tions.” (School Library Jour­nal)

“For her third col­lec­tion of sci­ence-based poet­ry and prose, Walk­er comes back down to Earth—celebrating roots, seeds, leaves, and the inner struc­tures of trees in a range of times, climes, and sea­sons … infor­ma­tive.” (Book­list)

“In 10 sec­tions, verses—sparsely punc­tu­at­ed and with­out ini­tial capitalization—vary in func­tion, alter­nat­ing the oblique deliv­ery of facts with often love­ly metaphor … The sec­tion “What’s in a Name?” begins fac­tu­al­ly: “sci­en­tif­ic names / (two-word Latin tongue twisters) / pre­vent con­fu­sion.” The next verse shifts whim­si­cal­ly: “Gink­go bilo­ba: / hun­gry mouths chomp chewy greens— / dinosaur sal­ad.” Walker’s imagery is deft, as in these asso­nant lines: “cov­ered with gray fur / pussy­wil­low catkins cling: / kit­tens on slim twigs.” The scope is impres­sive; sweep­ing across eons, from ancient tree ferns to urban forests, Walk­er cov­ers seed repro­duc­tion, the nutri­tive func­tion of xylem and phloem tubes, leaf biol­o­gy, envi­ron­men­tal sym­bio­sis, and for­est habi­tats … An excel­lent six-page infor­ma­tion­al sec­tion expands on the text’s 10 top­ic areas.”(Kirkus Reviews)