A Year Around the Great Oak

by Gerda Muller

Overview

Anna and Benjamin live in the city but love to stay with their cousin Robin in the countryside. Robin takes the children to see his favorite tree in the nearby forest: a 300-year-old giant oak.

Each time the children visit, they are amazed at how the forest and the mighty oak changes with the seasons. In autumn, they build a cosy den in the tree's roots to watch the squirrels. In winter, they learn to ski in the shelter of the forest. In spring, they search the forest for animals. But some creatures can be dangerous, and one night, the old oak tree helps Benjamin when he discovers something he wasn't expecting. . .

Join Anna and Benjamin as they spend the seasons with the great oak tree, and discover the fascinating plants and animals that live around it.

This new, expanded edition of A Year Around the Great Oak is a compelling combination of engaging story and educational information to delight and teach readers. Discover new detailed, accurate illustrations and fascinating fact pages alongside the wonderful seasonal story from Gerda Muller, honored by USBBY for A Year in Our New Garden, creator of the beloved Seasons board books and highly praised for How Does My Garden Grow?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782506027
Publisher:	Floris Books
Publication date:	10/22/2019
Edition description:	2nd Revised ed.
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	516,423
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 11.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Gerda Muller is an acclaimed Dutch children s author and illustrator. Born in 1926 in Naarden, Netherlands, Gerda studied at the Fine Arts School of Amsterdam and L' cole Estienne of Paris and has lived in France for over 70 years. Gerda's greatest inspiration is her love of nature and her picture books are treasured for their vibrant and detailed illustrations of the natural world. Gerda has illustrated over 120 books for children many of which have been translated into multiple languages. She is the creator of The Wildwood Elves, The Town Musicians of Bremen, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the wordless Seasons board books, Where Do They Go When It Rains? and A Year in Our New Garden, a USBBY Outstanding International Book.

Editorial Reviews

2019-06-16
During each season, city-dwelling siblings Benjamin and Anna visit their cousin Robin and his favorite tree—a 300-year-old oak in a European forest.

"Uncle John was a forester and their house was right on the edge of the forest." This is typical of the blunt sentences that tell a gentle tale of children exploring the natural world whenever they are together. The illustrations—of gouache, colored pencil, and graphite—have the nostalgic appeal of mid-20th-century Little Golden Books, with people, plants, and animals rendered in a way that imbues them all with sweetness. A semblance of plot develops when Benjamin, despite misgivings, steals away at night for a tree visitation and must stay in its branches to avoid wild boars. The final story scene is a frameworthy double-page spread of children celebrating the oak in the full beauty of summer. The book is an expanded version of a title originally published in Germany in 1991. The sexism present in the text has not worn well. Aunt Beth is mentioned as Uncle John's spouse but never appears—not even when the others spend a magical spring evening observing badgers and other forest creatures. Anna waters a plant and picks flowers, but she does not join Benjamin and Uncle John to watch a group of all-male foresters at work, nor to ski through the forest with Robin. The primary characters present white. Following the story is the new material: 12 pages of further information about woodlands, in lovingly illustrated detail.

Appealing but sexist. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews

'Realistic, delicate paintings use pattern, light and soft colors to track nature's transformation of the old oak tree during a single year in an innocent style reminiscent of Barbara Cooney... A charming celebration of the changing seasons.'
– Kirkus Reviews

'Unpredictable, stimulating and ultimately confidence-inducing ... Gerda Muller... draws each activity and animal with great detail and attention. Leaf shapes are accurate, and the picture of the children making their hideout from sticks and leaves is as good as a scouting manual; for readers with access to woods this could prove to be a useful as well as a handsome book.'
– The New York Times.com

From the Publisher