Nine Books about Trees

With apologies for all the bug bites, we hope that wherever you are, you’re able to spend some time among the trees, which we here at Invisible consider one of the best places to sit and relax with a good book.

Treed: Walking in Canada’s Urban Forests, by Ariel Gordon (Wolsak & Wynn)
With intimacy and humour award-winning poet Ariel Gordon walks us through the streets of Winnipeg and into the urban forest that is, to her, the city’s heart.

Nature All Around: Trees, by Pamela Hickman, illustrated by Carolyn Gavin (Kids Can Press)
This comprehensive and beautifully illustrated introduction to trees and the important role they play is part of the essential Nature All Around series.

Jack Pine, by Christopher Patton, illustrated by Cybèle Young (Groundwood Books)
In a poem as knotty and beautiful as the tree itself, Christopher Patton tells the story of one Jack Pine, and conveys the splendor of the pine forests that once covered much of eastern North America.

Big Lonely Doug: The Story of One of Canada’s Last Great Trees, by Harley Rustad (House of Anansi)
Big Lonely Doug weaves the ecology of old-growth forests, the legend of the West Coast’s big trees, the turbulence of the logging industry, the fight for preservation, the contention surrounding ecotourism, First Nations land and resource rights, and the fraught future of these ancient forests around the story of a logger who saved one of Canada’s last great trees.

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from A Secret World, by Peter Wohlleben
Are trees social beings? In this international bestseller, forester and author Peter Wohlleben convincingly makes the case that, yes, the forest is a social network.

Trees & Shrubs of Newfoundland and Labrador: Field Guide, by Todd Boland (Boulder Books)
A beautiful, well-constructed guide to more than 130 of Newfoundland and Labrador’s woody plants. Inside, you’ll find icons that aid at-a-glance scanning of each species, tabs that show each plant’s favoured habitats, photos of each plant’s key features, and details to help you identify plants and broaden your knowledge.

Island of Trees: 50 Trees, 50 Tales of Montreal, by Bronwyn Chester, illustrated by Jean-Luc Trudel (Véhicule Press)
Bronwyn Chester wrote the weekly column Island of Trees for the Montreal Gazette and this book is an expansion of those columns. Grouped by territory, the trees selected will provide Montrealers and visitors the opportunity to not only better know and appreciate Montreal’s trees, but will also lead them to little known places and histories of their island.

Journeys Through Eastern Old-Growth Forests: A narrative guide, by Jamie Simpson (Nimbus Publishing)
This book begins with a collection of stories about journeys into these old forests, and ends with detailed profiles of 16 of the remaining pockets of old-growth forest in the Maritimes: nine in Nova Scotia, three in New Brunswick, and four in Prince Edward Island.

Mnemonic: A Book of Trees, by Theresa Kishkan (Goose Lane Editions)
Warm, imaginative, and thoroughly original, this memoir intertwines the mysteries of trees with the defining moments in the life of novelist and essayist Theresa Kishkan.

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