Be a Tree! Book

Be a Tree! is a picture book by Maria Gianferrari, illustrated by Felicita Sala and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers in 2021. In lyrical text it invites children to stand tall, reach for the sun and notice how much they share with trees: a spine like a trunk, skin like bark, a heart that steadies them the way heartwood steadies a tree.

From there it turns to how trees live together, passing nutrients and signals to one another and sheltering their neighbours, and suggests that people, too, are stronger when they look after each other. Sala's illustrations fill the pages with forests and families. A 40-page hardback for ages 4 to 8, lovely for reading aloud and for starting conversations about nature.