The Village Tree

This story takes place in a village in Japan, but the author opens with the idea that these children are just like "you". In the Spring, the children in the village watch as their big tree grows new leaves and the river under it wakes up. When Summer comes, the children spend every day with the tree-- climbing, sitting, playing, exploring, eating, and jumping from the branches into the river to swim and make up games to play on the riverbank. The children head home in the evening to share the day with their families. It ends with a gorgeous image (visual and text) of the tree, alone, awaiting the children, generation after generation. The author does a nice job of describing things that might seem "foreign" to a reader, including games.