The Last Tree
-
- $6.99
-
- $6.99
Publisher Description
An arresting tale that feels both timeless and timely.
A group of friends make their home in a forest. After years of happiness, the community begins to build houses and walls. Soon the adults are not curious about the world beyond. Can the children save the last tree?
From the author of the phenomenally successful The King Who Banned the Dark comes a new tale about community and our relationship with the environment and nature.
Once upon a time a group of friends were seeking a place to call home. The desert was too hot, the valley was too wet and the mountain was too windy.
Then they found the forest. It was perfect. The leaves gave shelter from the sun and rain, and a gentle breeze wound through the branches.
But the friends soon wanted to build shelters. The shelters became houses, then the houses got bigger. All too soon they wanted to control the environment and built a huge wooden wall around the community.
As they cut down the trees, the forest becomes thinner, until there is just one last tree standing.
It is down to the children to find a solution.
'A timely and inspiring parable.' The Guardian
About the author
Emily Haworth-Booth is an award-winning author, illustrator and educator who teaches at the Royal Drawing School in London, England. Alongside her children's picture books, Emily is currently working on a long-form graphic memoir for adults. Her short comics have previously appeared in print in the Observer and Vogue.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this tree-centered narrative, Haworth-Booth warns how greed begets greed, subsequently highlighting the hope that a new generation may bring. "Once upon a time, a group of friends were looking for a place to live," Haworth-Booth begins, following the group—made up of kids with subtly varied skin tones, all sketched in grayscale—into a forest, where they quickly make themselves at home. With the onset of winter, the group seeks fire and shelter, beginning a destructive journey that eventually leads to widespread deforestation, save for one spindly tree, and a wind-blocking wall constructed to demarcate the "perfect village." But the wall breeds distrust; wanting to board up their windows and otherwise isolate their houses, each family sends their offspring to harvest the last tree—with unexpected results. Childlike yet detailed colored pencil drawings and comics-style speech bubbles and panels enliven this alluringly environmentalist, community-supportive narrative. Ages 4–8.
