Wake Up, Little Pin!: The Story of a Sleepy Sapling

PreS-Gr 3–In stately prose and with an original plot that feels as familiar as a folktale, Garbutt finds inspiration in the way trees communicate and “help” one another and how the forest is just like every community. Mother Pin Oak awakens to the spring vibes in the forest, but her child, Little Pin, slumbers on. Enlisting the forest family, Mother Pin uses their help: Vole digs more tunnels, aerating the soil so that nourishment can reach the sapling’s roots; birds swoop and fly through the environment, moving cooler air up into the sunshine to be warmed; the fungi use the underground network of threads to deliver fuel; Porcupine makes a “deposit” of manure as a breakfast treat for the soil and sleeping tree. Ferrer makes this scene, and all the illustrations, organic and normal, with green, brown, and gray colors that perfectly reflect early spring; these colors warm and grow brighter with every page turn. An author’s note before the main story explains how Garbutt combined tree science and her imagination; back matter includes further reading and a longer explication of the relatively recent information about tree families.