I noticed this on my daughter's shelves while staying with her and I decided to read it again. This is a delightful book and one which makes the reader appreciate the beauty of the tree even more. The leaves whisper in the breeze all summer long', playhouses are built in trees, apples are picked from trees, cats escape from dogs by running up a tree (and then have to be rescued by the Fire Brigade!), trees can have swings for children to play on or baskets of flowers hanging from them (or food for the birds even), cows shelter in trees' lee and picnics are taken in their shade.Īfter reading the book, or in the case of the youngsters featured in it, everyone wants to plant a tree and watch it grow and then proudly proclaim, 'I planted that tree.' So when I saw 'A Tree Is Nice' I just had to own it! The illustrations by Marc Simont are particularly fetching and the story, while simplicity itself, gives a great understanding of what role a tree has in everyday life.Īs a forest, they 'fill up the sky', they live besides rivers and in valleys, even just one tree is nice because, '. And I have always had an interest in trees from a young age, particularly from my teenage years when my wife to be and myself used to picnic at Kew Gardens in London. This book will make you want to plant a tree, or climb a tree, or lie down under a tree and take a nap.Perhaps rather parochially my favourite tree in the whole world is an oak tree aged a few hundred years that lives at the entrance to my daughter's property. This exquisitely simple picture book provides many reasons trees are nice, and some reasons just one tree is nice too. They offer shade, they make the woods, they’re good for hanging swings on and they make sticks! In the black and white illustrations Simont uses a gray wash and thicker, more strategic strokes, generating a quiet, meditative feeling.Īnd every spread evokes serenity and comfort. The luxuriant, saturated color art arouses warm, joyous feelings. The spreads alternate between black and white and color. Giving just enough information and omitting fine details, he’s creating a feeling with each scene as much as a picture. In A Tree is Nice his drawing style is loose and unrestricted he doesn’t squander lines. Marc Simont has appeared on TurtleAndRobot before, see The Philharmonic Gets Dressedand My Brother Ant. Her unpretentious text is direct and expressive. A Tree is Nice was her first picture book, and it is divine. Janice May Udry wrote seven picture books, including Let’s Be Enemies and Moon Jumpers, both illustrated by Maurice Sendak.

A tree is nice by janice may udry pdf