Peter and the Tree Children

Inspired by a real squirrel that lives near the author’s forest lodge, Peter and the Tree Children takes readers on a nature walk through a meadow and an alpine forest. Piet, a lonely squirrel without a family, lives in the woods near the home of Peter the forester. One day, Piet approaches Peter as Peter sips his morning coffee outside. Peter invites the little squirrel on a hike through the woods to look for tree children. Along the way, they encounter machines cutting down trees, Peter’s friend, Dana, and her horse, and a group of tree planters, but the tree children are nowhere to be found. Finally, they come upon an old beech forest, cool and dark, with beautiful mature trees and “freshly spouted beech children”.

All along their journey, Peter teaches Piet about how trees grow, optimum conditions for trees’ growth and survival, and how trees communicate with each other. Piet even realizes that, by burying beechnuts last fall for his winter food supply and then forgetting where he put them, he has helped to create new beech children, albeit unintentionally.

The pace of the story is perfectly in keeping with the peaceful, quiet nature walk, and Wohlleben’s writing style is well-suited to the target audience. However, the plot is too simple, and the author occasionally misses opportunities to explain important details. For example, other than the fact that “Without machines, the earth stays soft and loose,” he does not really tell how Dana’s method of tree removal is superior from a sustainable standpoint, and he barely mentions the tree planters and the important role that they play in reforestation. At the back of the book is a single page with five important facts about trees and their families.

Though charming, Atkinson’s digitally-produced illustrations, rendered in rich shades of green and brown, seem too cartoonlike for the story’s quiet, tranquil setting and its serious message.

In Peter and the Tree Children, Wohlleben, a longtime leader of educational tours through the forest near his home in Germany and author of The Hidden Life of Trees and Can You Hear the Trees Talking?, tries to capitalize on the success of his previous books by bringing similar information to a younger audience. Somehow, his attempt falls short, and the book does not quite measure up to its predecessors. However, young readers will still gain an appreciation of nature and an understanding of the importance of preserving forests and protecting the environment.