Dr Sam Lloyd, Queensland Fire and Biodiversity Consortium, Healthy Land and Water

How can a book by Philip Bunting be anything but funny, informative and filled with bold and engaging illustrations? The gentle genius of trees is all of those things. In following the ecological and philosophical theme of some of his other books (e.g. The wonderful wisdom of ants), The gentle genius of trees takes us on a journey through the role and value of trees – using the resilience and interconnectedness of trees as a metaphor for human strength and community.  

I like how Philip describes the relationship of trees with sunlight, how trees work together to protect themselves and how a tree utilises its environment to its advantage. I especially love the inclusion of the ‘Forgotten Kingdom’ – fungi – and the invaluable role it plays in tree (and generally the entire planet’s) health. In keeping with this theme, the poor little fungi having to wait until page 13 for some recognition! But it’s worth the wait, with illustrations and text articulating the importance of fungi.

As with so many Philip Bunting books, humour flows through the book. In this book my favourite is how glucose (a product of photosynthesis) is portrayed as fairy floss, along with the self-deprecating disclaimers. My kids think it’s hilarious that all the trees have eyes, and we all love the terrible tree jokes!

Whilst the book provides lots of examples of how we, as humans, prosper from trees, it doesn’t go into detail about how trees provide shelter, food and other resources to our animal friends (although this is implied through the illustrations and text). To learn more about the values of trees as homes to fauna, in particular hollow-bearing trees visit my review of Abbie Mitchell’s “A Hollow is a Home”.

It’s so easy to take trees for granted. Many of us live in areas where there are lots of trees around us, so we could be forgiven for thinking those trees represent ‘nature’ and adequately support our biodiversity. Whilst urban environments are very important for supporting those creatures that can tolerate, or even thrive in, our disruption (think magpies, possums and bin chickens) many other organisms need uninterrupted tree cover or vegetation to really sustain and survive – and we in turn, need these ecosystems if we are to survive.  The term ‘death by a thousand cuts’ is often used to describe the gradual loss of important trees in urban and peri-urban landscapes, and so I am always grateful when people take the time to love and conserve their trees.

Of course, the perfect place to read this book is next to (or sitting in) your favourite tree, park or patch of bush. The gentle genius of trees is essential reading for all the small people (or trees) in your life, and in keeping with his many other entertaining books, it is worthy of a read by everyone – especially those who think they are too old for picture books, or perhaps need a reminder of the gentle genius of trees.

More information about the book: 

Title: The gentle genius of trees

Author/Illustrator: Philip Bunting

Publisher: Scholastic (2021)

Age range: 3 – 10

Themes: Trees, biology, photosynthesis, interconnectedness, fungi, biodiversity.

As with many of my reviews, I highly recommend subscribing to the Brains On podcast, dedicated to engaging, informative and hilarious science podcasts for children, Brains On have several episodes on trees, including Trees: From Seed to Shining Seed; Tree, myself and I; and Do plants have feelings.