Just Like Me, Climbing a Tree: Exploring Trees Around the World

by Durga Yael Bernhard

Overview

If you were climbing a tree, just what might you see? Birds or animals or insects? Would you swing like a monkey? Or pick the ripest fruit straight from the branch? Join award-winning author and illustrator, Durga Yael Bernhard, on a trip around the world to climb its weirdest and most wonderful trees. No matter if you are in Africa, Asia, Europe, or America, there is a grand adventure waiting for you—provided you have a tree to climb in your neighborhood! Just Like Me, Climbing a Tree explores 12 of the most distinctive trees from across the globe, and includes educational notes about each of the trees to help answer questions that curious young minds might have.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781937786342
Publisher:	Wisdom Tales
Publication date:	04/01/2015
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	290,785
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	AD640L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Durga Yael Bernhard is an award-winning illustrator and author of many fiction and non-fiction books for children, including concept books, natural science titles, and multicultural folktales. She is also a fine artist known for her religious and family-oriented themes, and a children’s teacher of Hebrew, Judaic Studies, and art. She lives in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Editorial Reviews

09/01/2015
K-Gr 2—This title celebrates the wonder and thrill of a childhood pastime and sheds light on trees from all over the world. Rhythmic, poetic lines suggest reasons why children would enjoy climbing a tree, as well as the ways one might do so: for instance, like a monkey, a chameleon, or a leopard. Rendered in watercolor and gouache, each spread depicts a child in a tree indigenous to a particular country and lists the species name and nation of origin; examples include a mango tree in West Africa or a Montezuma cypress in Mexico. A close-up inset on each page examines the seed or fruit of the tree in question and provides its scientific name. Appended is more in-depth information about each species, such as its physical characteristics, the specific benefits it provides, and the significance it holds for the people of its country. The end pages feature a world map indicating where each tree can be found. A note on the final page include a web address that connects readers to a catchy musical rendition of the text. VERDICT A great addition, particularly for those doing lesson plans on trees.—Maggie Chase, Boise State University, ID

School Library Journal

2015-02-03
Children climb trees around the world to play, make discoveries, see what they can see and maybe pick a tasty treat. "What if you / heard a bird / in the branches above, / and your feet / followed a root… // or you shimmied up a trunk / so thick and tough, / and swung / like monkeys do?" Each page turn brings readers to a different country and type of tree: a mango in West Africa, a lychee in Hawaii, a kapok in Brazil. Bernhard sprinkles the backgrounds with native flora and fauna or glimpses of people, and occasionally she employs some stereotypes: a windmill in Holland, thatched-roof huts in South Africa. The stiff poses and static faces on the children show none of the childhood joy that accompanies tree-climbing; at best they seem content. Too, for a book that focuses on tree species, the artwork is not realistic enough to really showcase the different trees' attributes. World maps on the endpapers mark the locations of each of the 12 trees with inset pictures, and backmatter gives a paragraph of information about each species (on a much higher reading level than the text), a few resources for more information (most related specifically to this book) and reasons to be careful climbing trees. Not much here to make kids run out and climb a tree. (Informational picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews