WHEN A TREE FALLS

A tree can provide a place for many forest residents to grow, to rest, and to shelter—even after it falls.

The comparatively small figures of a multiracial family, glimpsed hiking or sitting on a log for a snack, are clearly entranced by the lovely, lush Pacific Northwest forest setting—readers will be enchanted, too. Pendreigh’s spare accompanying narrative is as grand and stately as the trees themselves. Over a span of years, a towering Douglas fir “suns and sways” until it “grows old. / Sap slows. / Roots let go. / Green goes brown. / The tree falls / down” with a crash and begins a “new life” as “Nurse Log.” The author anthropomorphizes her subject: “She is a place to grow,” and she “mothers” new waves of flora and fauna, from lichen and jelly fungus to towhees and bear cubs. As a reservoir of moisture in drier seasons, the log also nurtures a western hemlock “tree child” that grows from seedling to sapling, “hugs his nurse mother” with roots, and, as the old log crumbles into the soil, rears up over time to become a home and shelter in turn for many species. Pendreigh’s afterword underscores the significant role trees play, even after they’re dead, in many habitats. It’s a profound lesson for young readers to absorb, even as they pore over the expanses of precisely detailed ferns, fungi, and furry forest wildlife in the pictures.

Poetic, revealing, and visually delightful.