Pistes d'exploration

Look at the map provided. Compare today’s rainforest coverage with that of long ago. Why are rainforests disappearing?

Choose an animal from one of the rainforest’s layers. Prepare a slide presentation or poster about it, including how it lives and is affected by deforestation.

Discuss why the animals didn’t kill the man when they had the chance. Why didn’t the man finish cutting down the Kapok tree? What repercussions might he face? What would you have done in his shoes?

Imagine lying underneath (or climbing) a tree that someone wanted to cut down. Write what you would say to that person.

Look at the animals on the map page. Identify the cognates (words that are very similar in French and English). Do the same with the words on the map. 

Take a picture walk and predict what the story will be about. Discuss the richness of this forest. 

After reading, compare the version you imagined (during the picture walk) with the actual story. Discuss how the Kapok tree is invaluable to the rainforest’s inhabitants.

In a graphic organizer, note the animals’ messages to the man with the axe. 

Think of a favourite tree. What impact does it have on your life? Take a photo and explain why this tree must be preserved. Prepare a media presentation of all the favourite trees.

Someday a Tree, The Giving Tree, Picture a Tree, Planet Ark: Preserving Earth's Biodiversity, Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth

Mots-clés

Picture book , animals , biodiversity , conservation , ecology , protecting the environment , rainforests , trees

Commentaire descriptif

Two men arrive in the rainforest, and all the animals fall silent and watch. The younger man is instructed to cut down the great Kapok tree, but after a few swings of his axe he grows tired and “Before he knew it, the heat and hum of the forest had lulled him to sleep.” One by one, the animal inhabitants of the lush, tropical rainforest plead to the sleeping man to preserve their home. Their reasons are many: scientific, aesthetic, environmental and emotional. With great suspense, we wait to see what the man will do when he wakes. Will he heed the message of a local boy: “Senhor, when you awake, please look upon us all with new eyes.” Vivid, rich coloured pencil and watercolour illustrations fill the pages, with text laid out in cream-coloured boxes that almost seem to intrude on the forest overgrowth. The reader is brought up close with the residents of the rainforest and immersed in their environment. The text is poetic, but its message is matter-of-fact: we learn from the boa, the bees, the monkeys and others about the continuity of generations, soil erosion, loss of oxygen, slash and burn, and the disappearance of food sources. In the end, the younger man chooses to drop his axe and leave the forest to the flora and fauna. He honours nature and lets it thrive, untouched.