Tree Beings author Raymond Huber on the magic of trees

Raymond Huber is a children’s author, teacher, and editor. His acclaimed picture books, Flight of the Honey Bee and Gecko, are published in several countries; his junior novels, Sting and Wings, are science-fiction about bees; and Peace Warriors is a young adults’ book about non-violence. Raymond has also written many educational books. He lives in New Zealand and was the Creative NZ-Otago University Writer in Residence in 2018. The latest book from Raymond Huber is a children’s book called Tree Beings and he’s on the blog today to tell us a little bit about the magic of trees. Read on …

Raymond Huber

May the Forest Be With You

Imagine if someone invented a machine that fights climate change, eats sunlight, cleans the air, gives animals a home, grows food, makes rain, protects soil, and is fun and beautiful. It’s hard to even imagine such a device; although there is a living thing that does all that – the tree. When researching for my book Tree Beings I was astonished to find how much trees enrich the planet, and how much I’d taken them for granted.

It’s easy to get downhearted about environmental damage, so I tried to make Tree Beings a hopeful book for children – and focus on the wonder of trees and the people who love them. Only when we fall in love with Nature will we want to protect it – but how to get young readers to fall for trees? (I mean, they do come across as a bit wooden.) I included some spectacular species, like the tree with exploding pods, the toxic tree that fights cancer, and the tree-clone that’s 80,000 years old. But quirky facts were not enough.

‘It is not half so important to know as to feel when introducing a young child to the natural world’ (Rachel Carson). Science is often best expressed through narrative, as in the machine metaphor above. I hunted for inspiring, dramatic stories of ‘tree beings’: the scientists, planters, and activists who are passionate about trees. Like the nine-year-old boy who mobilised the world’s children to plant trees; the young woman who lived at the top of a giant redwood for two years; and the man who found a life-saving underground forest.

We don’t usually think of trees as ‘beings’ but they do have their own kind of intelligence and presence. I tell the story of the scientist who discovered their remarkable ability to communicate with each other via a tree ‘internet’. And the people in Tree Beings who spent time getting to know trees came to regard them as ‘living, breathing entities’, as Dr. Jane Goodall put it after living alone in the jungle.

The title refers to both trees and people, and Australian illustrator Sandra Severgnini has combined both aspects in her cover image of a tree composed of 70 creatures. We sometimes forget about our connection to Nature, ‘like a leaf believing itself to be separate from the tree on which it grows’ (as John Seed says in the book). Sandra’s cover symbolises that all life is connected in ways we’re only beginning to appreciate.

Trees are by far the oldest and the tallest living things on planet Earth – maybe it’s time we got to know them better.

—Tree Beings, written by Raymond Huber and illustrated by Sandra Severgnini (Exisle Publishing) is out now.

Tree Beings

by Raymond Huber and Sandra Severgnini (Illustrator)

We depend on trees for our survival, yet few of us understand just how fascinating these beings really are.

With a foreword by the world-renowned anthropologist Jane Goodall, Tree Beings is an adventure through the secret world of trees. Challenging the perception that trees are just 'silent statues', it focuses on four big ideas: Trees give life to the planet. Trees can help save us from climate change. Trees are like beings. Trees need our help and protection...

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