What Did the Tree See?, What the Elephant Heard and What the Macaw Saw

Told in gentle rhyming verse, this non-fiction picture book follows the story of an oak tree on a hilltop as it witnesses life changing around it over the course of hundreds of years. From the time when hunters chased deer through the woodland, to when trees were cleared for farmland, to the smog and factories emerging during the industrial revolution. One majestic oak has seen it all, and now we can too.

Accompanying pages at the end of the book include a timeline of events in world history across the periods featured in the poem, the life cycle of an oak tree, and prompts to help parents and children explore their own local history.

Illustrated by Sam Usher.

 

I glide to the branch that grows over your head,

a scarlet macaw – golden, bright blue and red.

My home is the rainforest, dense, lush and green,

and this is the story of what I have seen…

 

Follow the story of a colourful scarlet macaw as she raises her family in the rainforest. As wildfires, deforestation and poachers threaten her environment, will she be able to live a life of freedom among the trees? And will humans learn the true value of the forest once again?

 

Illustrated by Sam Usher. 

 

Follow a herd of African elephants as they journey across parched grasslands in search of a waterhole. The narrator tells us how their grandmother remembers all the sounds of the savannah and how the landscape has changed over the years. Still, she knows where to find water, just as her mother did before her.

 

A heartfelt ode to Africa’s majestic giants and the challenges they face in our changing world.

Illustrated by Sam Usher.