Product Description

This inspired look at what the Kapok tree means to the creatures that live in it--and what rain forests mean to the world's ecology--was at the forefront of the ecological movement ten years ago and continues to resonate profoundly with children everywhere.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14745 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 40 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780152026141
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
If a tree falls in the forest... someone or something will always be there to hear it. Many, many creatures will feel the effects when their source of sustenance and shelter falls to the earth. So when a man is sent into the Amazon rain forest one day, under instructions to chop down a great kapok tree, many eyes watch him nervously. It's not long before he grows tired, though, and the "heat and hum" of the rain forest lulls him to sleep. One by one, snakes, bees, monkeys, birds, frogs, and even a jaguar emerge from the jungle canopy to plead with the sleeping ax-man to spare their home. When the man awakens, startled at all the rare and marvelous animals surrounding him, he picks up his ax as if to begin chopping again, then drops it and walks away, presumably never to return.

Unfortunately, there's always someone else who is willing to take his place, but the message of this environmental book is plain: Save the rain forest! The story itself is not overly compelling, but each personalized entreaty from the animals provides an accurate and persuasive scientific argument for preserving nature's gifts. Lynne Cherry's fertile watercolor and colored-pencil illustrations, including a map of the tropical rain forests of the world, are vivid and colorful. A fine starting point for a discussion about conservation. (Ages 4 to 8) --Emilie Coulter

From Publishers Weekly
In this breathtakingly beautiful picture book, Cherry combines illustrations that reveal a naturalist's reverence for beauty with a mythlike story that explains the ecological importance of saving the rain forests. The text is not a didactic treatise, but a simply told story about a man who falls asleep while chopping down a kapok tree. The forest's inhabitants--snakes, butterflies, a jaguar, and finally a child--each whisper in his ear about the terrible consequences of living in "a world without trees" or beauty, about the interconnectedness of all living things. When the man awakens and sees all the extraordinary creatures around him, he leaves his ax and "walks out of the rain forest." A map showing the earth's endangered forests and the creatures that dwell within ends the book which, like the rain forests themselves, is "wondrous and rare." Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3-- Exhausted from heat and exertion, a lone man rests at the base of a Kapok tree that he is intent on felling. As he dozes, the animal residents of the enormous tree come to him, explain the tree's vital importance to their existence, and gently implore him to reconsider his labors. Lastly, a child of the Yanomamo tribe begs him to "please look upon us all with new eyes." He awakens to the menagerie assembled and seems to see them for the first time. The man departs, leaving his ax behind. This thinly veiled nature and conservation lesson succeeds in giving a simplified picture of the rain forest--from its canopy to its dense understory--and the interdependence of all the plant and animal life that exists within this fragile, shrinking ecosystem. Cherry's rich colored-pencil and watercolor drawings fairly buzz with life. She totally engages readers' attention and senses through vivid detail, dramatic perspective, and lifelike accuracy. The flora and fauna of the lush, steamy Brazilian rain forest seem to grow before readers' eyes, surrounding the text and the peaceful young man as he sleeps. Although the talking animals somewhat diminish the power of the message and undermine its seriousness, The Great Kapok Tree gives young readers a glimpse of and a feeling for an environment vastly different from their own. Spectacular endpapers include a map of the world's tropical rain forests and the amazing array of Amazon wildlife.
- Luann Toth , School Library Journal
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful pictures with a beautiful message.
My son and I love this book. We received it as a prize at an Earth Day celebration and have gotten a lot of use out of it. I love the beautiful pictures and my son loves it when I make up voices for each of the animals. I feel good about reading this book to him, because the message is clear. We live on a planet with many cultures and many other living creatures. We should respect that. I have gone out to check out other books by Lynne Cherry and love them all. But The Great Kapok Tree remains my favorite.

Children's Environmental Literature Classic
This is a beautifully illustrated fable of interdependence in the rain forest. As a teacher, I use this story to teach about ecosystems here at home. Even though it is appropriate for younger children, I read it to my outdoor school students (5th-6th grade) on the day we study ecosystems to help them understand the inter-relationships we see and study in the field. I like to bring the story to life by giving the animals special voices (lots of hissssing for the snake, chattering for the monkeys, squawking for the birds, etc.) At first the students laugh and are amused by the voices, but when the tree frogs talk about ruined lives and being left homeless, they begin to get more serious, and by the time the sloth asks "How much is beauty worth? Can you live without it?" they are fully engrossed. After reading the story, I send the students out to find a "magic spot" to do a writing assignment: write their own story of "The Great ______" substituting a plant they have learned about during their week at outdoor school for Kapok Tree.

The only thing I don't like about this story is that students, in their black and white morality, sometimes only take home the message that "it's bad to cut down trees." I like the book "The Gift of the Tree" because it doesn't have this morality tale aspect, and "Just a Dream," because it places responsibility on each of our shoulders, not just "someone" like the tree cutter in this story. But I use this story in conjunction with those others and discuss this issue with the students. This is definitely a classic in Children's Environmental Literature!

The Dream
Beautiful, wild places inspire and I love to introduce this concept to young children who are so very sensitive to the beauty around them. Children love to produce images of a world butterflies, rainbows and flowers. Lynne Cherry uses this love to capture and intrigue children in her book about The Great Kapok Tree set in the heart of the Amazon rain forest.

Ms Cherry is an author and illustrator of children's books who has a sensitivity for ecological issues. In The Great Kapok Tree she presents a jungle teaming with life. A man tires as he begins cutting the great tree down with an ax. He tires and sleeps. While he sleeps the animals come out of the rain forest to give him a lesson about the importance of the tree. Snakes, monkeys, butterflies, parrots, toucans, frogs jaguars and sloths all give him a pitch. Each tree is important in the rain forest.

Lynne Cherry's illustrations are gorgeous, green and so alive. Her inspiration was the Amazon rain forest which she traveled to and sketch while researching this book. Each page impresses the reader with the lushness and beauty of the region.

While it may seem that the concept of ecology is a bit sophisticated for a four year old it is important to remember that our early values shape our lives. It is my hope that the children of today will have of deep love of nature that will inspire them to take the necessary care of the earth ion their future.

This book is a wonderful gift to a child. I have read it to children numerous times and they are always mesmerized by it.