Martha Begley Schade

The Listening Tree: Befriending Nature - Merlin Woods Series Martha Begley Schade

Why Buy This Book?

This charming & beautifully illustrated book is a useful reader for preteen social science discussions, where the key focus points in this book are friendship, family, stress, and modern-day stressors for children.



The Main Story

Little Johanna arrives at the base of the tree one day as she is running away from home. You can imagine her surprise when the tree starts to talk to her. He listens to her problems and offers ways to approach the different issues she has.

The friendship grows when she returns often or in times of change in her life and always with the same result. She gets advice and most importantly, a listening ear.

The story highlights the idea that listening is a key support to preteens and teenagers and that age-old solutions may often be useful - even nowadays.

Johanna goes through issues such as family relationships, exam stresses, judging others, the importance of saying sorry and more.

With "The Listening Tree" we highlight the importance of trees in our environment - also for our mental wellbeing.



The Premise of this Story

This book covers issues such as the ability to listen, saying sorry, exam stresses, kindness, judging others as well as self-esteem. The talking points at the end of the story help stimulate discussion around these topics. In addition, there are fun facts about trees and the benefits they bring not only to our environment but to our wellbeing also.