THE SECRET LIFE OF TREES

A sweet sifting of tree- and forest-related facts and folklore.

Calling on the testimony of beasts and breezes for more far-flung topics, “Oakheart the Brave,” a gnarled oak with anthropomorphic features, offers an easygoing overview of forest types, seeds, tree fruits, and seasonal cycles interspersed with fragmentary versions of old tales. These last range from the story of how Nimue trapped Merlin and a heavily pruned account of an intrepid Hungarian lad who scales a “Sky-High Tree” to a Persian encounter between a wise girl and an invisible dragon beneath “The Tree of Life.” Other tales included hail from India, Scotland, and Norway. The “secret life” motif comes out occasionally, most clearly in explanations of the functions of each tree layer from bark on in. The notion that forests both give and need protection forms a strong secondary theme—leading up to a closing set of “How To Be Tree-Happy” activities such as recycling paper products and planting acorns to make new oaks. Mineker’s delicately detailed illustrations mix spot art with floating woodscapes as airy and uncluttered as the narrative. Human figures, though small and not common, do sport subtle differences in skin hues and generic period or regional dress.

Branches gently out into both natural science and human culture, albeit sparely.