Chris Soul

Genre: Fable / Fairy-tale / Folktale

If you like: nature, whimsical short stories, beautifully made books

Age: Year 3+

​

I am involved with Hachette publisher's Raising Readers programme through my work at the National Literacy Trust and I am delighted we are using this wonderful book for Storytime in five schools across the country. Because this is a powerful, beautiful, thought-provoking story about the wonders and strangeness of nature and how humans relate to it.  It is perfect for Storytimes.

 

I absolutely adore Tree Thing. It is an enchanting, dream-like fable that is presented so beautifully and adorned with fantastic illustrations by Michael Taylor Wilson. Piers Torday's writing flows and grows - vine-like - into your imagination, as if this was a tale that has always existed: so engaging and daring. The actual hardback book even feels and smells woodier and rustic and magical. The cover art is a stunning work of art in-itself. Quite simply, this is a book of rare beauty and profound dreaming. Every classroom should have a copy!

​

Once, in a faraway land, a green thing squeezed out of the earth. The mysterious Tree Thing, which changes Marlo’s life forever. Nothing grows in Marlo’s valley, and it’s a struggle to survive. But when his squirrel Rinti finds a glowing emerald acorn, it grows into a miraculous Tree Thing. Tree Thing changes everything, bringing life and hope. And when the shadowy Rider arrives with an axe, Marlo needs all his bravery and ingenuity to stand between triumph and disaster.

​​

https://www.waterstones.com/book/tree-thing/piers-torday/matthew-taylor-wilson/9781786542724

​

​

​