This captivating book explores the real connection and communication that runs underground between trees in the forest. The well-researched details about trees' own social network will help readers see that the natural world's survival depends on staying connected and helping others—just like us! Parents, teachers, and gift givers will find: a beautiful story about our forests with scientifically accurate information educational backmatter about this underground web of communication a nature book that supports social emotional learning The fascinating mycorrhizal fungi network runs underground through the roots of trees in the forest allowing for connection and communication. Readers will discover that trees have their own social network to help each other survive and thrive.

Trees were central to Henry David Thoreau’s creativity as a writer, his work as a naturalist, his thought, and his inner life. His portraits of them were so perfect, it was as if he could see the sap flowing beneath their bark. When Thoreau wrote that the poet loves the pine tree as his own shadow in the air, he was speaking about himself. In short, he spoke their language. In this original book, Richard Higgins explores Thoreau’s deep connections to trees: his keen perception of them, the joy they gave him, the poetry he saw in them, his philosophical view of them, and how they fed his soul. His lively essays show that trees were a thread connecting all parts of Thoreau’s being—heart, mind, and spirit. Included are one hundred excerpts from Thoreau’s writings about trees, paired with over sixty of the author’s photographs. Thoreau’s words are as vivid now as they were in 1890, when an English naturalist wrote that he was unusually able to “to preserve the flashing forest colors in unfading light.” Thoreau and the Language of Trees shows that Thoreau, with uncanny foresight, believed trees were essential to the preservation of the world.

As well as offering wood and charcoal fuels, timber for buildings and ships, latex rubber, dyes, shade, shelter from the weather, fruits and nuts to enjoy and poisons to avoid, trees provide the world with oxygen while their roots stabilize soil to prevent flooding and erosion. Moreover, bark, roots, leaves, flowers, fruits or seeds also offer medicinal products. Meanwhile, the forest has ever been a magical place inspiring writers and poets such as C S Lewis, J R R Tolkien, Shakespeare, Wordsworth and Coleridge. The Secret Language of Trees explores fifty different species of tree. It looks at the history of the tree, its medicinal and other uses, as well as its language meaning and symbolism. Each entry is supported by a beautiful watercolour of the tree itself as well as its leaves or fruit.

Farmer Bill lives in Northern Michigan and sells his produce at the local farmers market. He talks to his dog, Doppler, on their daily walks through the majestic trees that grow beyond his gardens. Join Doppler and Farmer Bill as they travel through the woods, neither of them aware of the various voices around them. Apparently, trees have a lot to talk about. Do you know what they are saying?

“The Language of Trees, like Whitman’s Leaves of Grass though in a magic realist vernacular, refreshingly asserts that deeply American conviction: the gravest natural instinct is to heal and be healed. A shimmeringly heartfelt story.” —Gregory Maguire, New York Times bestselling author of Wicked “Crafted with suspenseful pacing and delicate imagery, Ilie Ruby’s book combines the qualities of an irresistible ghost story with a healing tale of redemption.” —Elizabeth Rosner, author of The Speed of Light A truly stunning literary debut, Ilie Ruby’s The Language of Trees is a fiercely beautiful novel that explores the relationships that define us, the events that shape us, and the places we will go to in order to save ourselves and those we love most. Fans of Jennifer McMahon, Alice Hoffman, and Niall Williams will be captivated by this haunting tale of homecoming and secrets that sparkles with exceptional writing and a gothic edge.

About Trees considers our relationship with language, landscape, perception, and memory in the Anthropocene. The book includes texts and artwork by a stellar line up of contributors including Jorge Luis Borges, Andrea Bowers, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ada Lovelace and dozens of others. Holten was artist in residence at Buro BDP. While working on the book she created an alphabet and used it to make a new typeface called Trees. She also made a series of limited edition offset prints based on her Tree Drawings.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Inspiring. . . . insights that are scientific, intimate and surprising. . . . a call to action for those who still care."—The Washington Post Inspired by forests, trees, leaves, roots, and seeds, The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape invites readers to discover an unexpected and imaginative language to better read and write the natural world around us and reclaim our relationship with it. In this gorgeously illustrated and deeply thoughtful collection, Katie Holten gifts readers her tree alphabet and uses it to masterfully translate and illuminate beloved lost and new, original writing in praise of the natural world. With an introduction from Ross Gay, and featuring writings from over fifty contributors including Ursula K. Le Guin, Ada Limón, Robert Macfarlane, Zadie Smith, Radiohead, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, James Gleick, Elizabeth Kolbert, Plato, and Robin Wall Kimmerer, Holten illustrates each selection with an abiding love and reverence for the magic of trees. She guides readers on a journey from creation myths and cave paintings to the death of a 3,500-year-old cypress tree, from Tree Clocks in Mongolia and forest fragments in the Amazon to the language of fossil poetry, unearthing a new way to see the natural beauty all around us and an urgent reminder of what could happen if we allow it to slip away. The Language of Trees considers our relationship with literature and landscape, resulting in an astonishing fusion of storytelling and art and a deeply beautiful celebration of trees through the ages.