Natalia Romanova

This is a simple tale, written by the author and beautifully illustrated by Gennady Spirin. Spirin beyond a doubt is my favorite illustrator. Much more than a simply illustrator (if there is such a person,) Spirin brings life to each and every image. Truly, it takes a while to carefully go through the images that he brings to life.

If I was rich, I would buy one or two or three or four......or more of his original works.

This is a circle of life tale. An old tree was hit by lightening, and it was split in half.

A woodsman saw the damaged tree, and he took his ax to chop it down, leaving it open for the beetles to lay their eggs in the stomp. the eggs became full grown beetles who flex away, leaving the tunnels open for ants to make the stump their home.

Next, a large bear sharpened her claws on the stump, leaving long, deep gashes in the wood. When a Titmouse approached, she ate a caterpillar that an ant claimed. Now, the ants belonged to the Titmouse bird. But so too did the stump belong to the frog who found a hole in with to clime into.

Later an earwig came along, and so too did a man who was walking through the woods on a stormy night.

Since it was the nature of every inhabitant to claim to stump, the author asks who really owns the stump?

And, in the end, nature belongs to all. And the cycle of life and death continues. As a new tree grows where the old tree lived.

Five stars for a beautiful story with excellent illustrations.… (more)

This story was very interesting. It followed a tree that was struck by lightning, cut into a stump and then inhabited by a variety of animals and insects. Each creature believed the stump belonged to him. There was even a human man. At the end of the book it asks the reader "Who does the stump really belong to?". This is followed with an explanation that nature belongs to all and we need to live in harmony. I think it is important for students to realize that the world is bigger than them, and our actions affect the rest of nature. We need to consider the earth and Gods creation as a shared space. I would use this in a science lesson about habitat and learning how many animals and insects share the same habitats and need to coexist.… (more)