It’s a fictional story (based on realistic themes) in which a man enters the rainforest with the intent of chopping down the Great Kapok Tree, which is home to many of the animals who live there. This could be used to study 2nd – 5th grade. Sorry for the tangent, but I just hope there are more environmental-message books out there that will involve children!!! If any of you have suggestions, let me know. I mean, as a kid I always though, well, gosh, OF COURSE I want to save the whales, of course I wouldn't cut down trees, of course I wouldn't hunt elephants! But, I didn't really realize how I could do anything about it until I started to talk it over with my parents. Make the children aware of their place in all this (or, at least, their parents' place) and this will give them also a greater sense of empowerment. I think that environmental-message books for kids do a disservice to them if they simply stop at showing a South American man (dressed in 'Western' clothes) attempting to chop down a Kapok tree. And, further, would he be cutting down the trees if there was not a market for the wood or land-perhaps we should look deeper, to someone else down the line, all the way down the line, to the end-consumer? These books do not reach far enough!!! Now, I'm not saying that I don't buy new things-I'm certainly not as 'green' as I want to be-but I do try to be aware of how much I'm buying, from where, and what the impact may be if I'm not sometimes buying used or buying from sustainable sources.

Or perhaps he is simply trying to provide for his family who might otherwise starve as native ways of life fade and industrialism creeps into all corners of the globe. Namely, that the 'Bad Guy' is the one who cuts down the trees (or hunts the wildlife, or.)and-that's it! rather than going the extra distance to show that, well, WHY is he cutting down the trees!? It's not just for fun.

This book still rather annoyed me, though, following a bit too close to one of the lines that I find extremely afrustrating in much of the conservation literature, etc. Also, I am all for the message of conservation-this one wasn't too heavy-handed, but still will help raise children's awareness that it is important to preserve nature. Okay, first let me say that this is a lovely book-the writing style is simple but touching, the artwork is great-realistic yet still 'artsy' (I love the inside-cover spread with the map of the world, showing the rain forest areas, and then a border of rain forest fauna).

The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry