The Man Who Planted Trees

by Jean Giono, Michael McCurdy (Illustrator), Wangari Maathai (Foreword by), Norma Goodrich (Afterword), Andy Lipkis (Afterword)

Overview

Jean Giono's beautiful allegorical tale is legendary. Written in the 1950's, its message was ahead of its time, inspiring readers to rediscover the harmonies of the countryside and prevent its willful destruction.

The narrator, journeying by foot across the barren plains of the lower Alps, has his thirst assuaged by the well water drawn by the shepherd Elzeaerd Bouffier. Here begins the subtle parable which Giono weaves of the life-giving shepherd who chooses to live alone and carry out the work of God. Over forty years the desolate hills and lifeless villages which so oppressed the traveler are transformed by the dedication of one man. All with the help of a few acorns.

Giono's hope was to set in motion a worldwide reforestation program that would rejuvenate the earth. The Man Who Planted Trees is a hymn to creation and a purveyor of confidence in man's ability to change his—indeed the world's—lot.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781933392813
Publisher:	Chelsea Green Publishing
Publication date:	10/17/2007
Edition description:	20th Anniversary Edition
Pages:	72
Sales rank:	86,371
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.25(d)
Age Range:	8 Years

About the Author

Jean Giono (Author)was born in 1895 in Manosque, Provence, and lived there most of his life. He supported his family working as a bank clerk for eighteen years before his first two novels were published, thanks to the generosity of André Gide, to critical acclaim. He went on to write thirty novels, including The Horseman on the Roof, and numerous essays and stories. In 1953, the year in which he wrote The Man who Planted Trees, he was awarded the Prix Monégasque for his collective work. Jean Giono died in October 1970.

Harry Brockway (Illustrator) was born in 1958 and studied sculpture at Kingston Art School and at the Royal Academy, where he learned engraving. He makes a living as a stonemason as well as a wood engraver.

Editorial Reviews

   • "One of the greatest writers of our generation." —Andre Mairaux 

   • "Giono: he's a god. I rank him with Chateaubriand and Proust." —Jean d'Ormesson 

   • "In Giono's work what every sensitive, full-blooded individual ought to be able to recognise at once is 'the song of the world." —Henry Miller

From the Publisher