The Tree in the Ancient Forest

This is a beautiful book that is based on the repetitive pattern found in "This is the House That Jack Built". More information is given at the end of the book regarding each species of plant or animal featured in the book. This book is great to base student formula writing on, maybe with different habitats. Great science content.

This book was basically built on the "house that jack built" model, except that it was about an ancient forest ecosystem. The last page described all the plants and animals that were mentioned in the text and it defines the term ancient forest. It also makes a plea for the protection of the remaining ancient forests in the U.S. and the world. Not a bad book.

First impression: This book is trying to be majestic, beautiful and important (like the ancient forest?).

Beginning with a 300 year old tree, goes through the food chain of a forest in a "there was an old lady who lived in a shoe" kind of way (beautifully and majestically, no silliness here).

Appendix includes:
*Characters in this story (tree, roots, animals, etc.)
*What is an ancient forest? (big trees, dead trees, fallen trees, etc.)
*Why are ancient forests important?

Really thought I was going to hate this book. In the end I enjoyed it.

Cumulative verse about the life cycle of a tree in a forest. Reading it aloud is a bit of a slog for the reader, since some of the repeated lines are more informative than fun-to-read.

-Science: Picture Book Interconnectedness of Nature, Ecosystem Relationships
-Reed-Jones, Carol. The Tree in the Ancient Forest. Illus by Christopher Canyon. Dawn Publications, 1995, Unp, Primary, Intermediate.

-This repetitive and rhythmic story wonderfully details the diverse living beings that thrive in the dense, rich ancient forests. Realistic mixed media illustrations with a hint of humor give this informative book another depth to appeal to the reader.
-Keywords: Ecosystem, Interconnectedness, Biodiversity, Ancient Forest,
-Activity: Have students draw a large, detailed tree and its inhabitants from the book. Have students discuss in pairs how each organism depends on the tree and how the tree benefits from its inhabitants.

Really cool book!