First edition of The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest by Lynne Cherry.
Written and illustrated by Lynne Cherry. Stated first edition, first printing, 1990. Gulliver Books for Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers.
"Two men walked into the rain forest. Moments before, the forest had been alive with the sounds of squawking birds and howling monkeys. Now all was quiet as the creatures watched the two men and wondered why the had come. The larger man stopped and pointed to a great Kapok tree. Then he left.
"The smaller man took the ax he carried and struck the trunk of the tree. Whack! Whack! Whack! The sounds of the blows rang through the forest. The wood of the tree was very hard. Chop! Chop! Chop! The man wiped off the sweat that ran down his face and neck. Whack! Chop! Whack! Chop!
"Soon the man grew tired. He sat down to rest at the foot of the great Kapok tree. Before he knew it, the heat and hum of the forest had lulled him to sleep."
As the man sleeps, a beautiful cast of rain forest creatures comes to whisper in his ear - boa constrictor, bees, monkeys, toucan, macaw, cock-of-the-rock, tree frogs, jaguar, tree porcupines, anteaters, sloths - to spare the great Kapok tree, their home. Finally, a Yanomamo Indian child whispers, "Senhor, when you awake, please look upon us with new eyes."
Lynne Cherry (1952 - ) is a children's book author and illustrator and a film producer whose passion is involving young people in bringing attention to climate change and finding solutions. She is founder and director of Young Voices on Climate Change, and has produced 11 short PBS documentaries, Young Voices for the Planet, which features young people's environmental success stories.
Cherry went to Brazil to research the beautiful illustrations for the book, and was an early leader in the movement to save the rain forests.
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Condition*: Near Fine/Near Fine. Dust jacket shows only minor shelfwear.
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