Perfect Picture Book Friday
This Old Madrone Tree (Web of Life Children’s Books, 2023) by Barbara Herkert and illustrated by Marlo Garnsworthy is such a lovely nature book about a specific tree’s annual life cycle. (I can’t believe I forgot to recommend it last fall!)
In the Pacific Northwest, madrone (sometimes called madrona) trees grow near the coast. This book tells the story of one such tree and the creatures who visit throughout the year. We visit all four seasons starting with summer and ending with spring.
The text is lyrical and the illustrations beautifully compliment it. My favorite part of the text is “In winter, the wind whips and snarls. Waves raise their frothy heads. Rain slashes sideways. Thunder roars, and lightning cackles.” Can’t you just see and hear it? I have a really hard time picking a favorite spread as the illustrations are so lovely. But the forest scene when the bark curls reminds me of family vacations on the northern California coast when I was young.
The author has a madrone tree where she lives that inspired this story, her fifth published book. Read more about Barb here and check out her other books here.
The illustrator loves nature so was a perfect choice. Read about Marlo here and see samples of her illustrations here. Check out some lovely spreads of this book on the publisher’s site.
FYI: This is my 100th picture book recommendation on this site! Woo hoo!
