Mother Aspen: A Story of How Forests Cooperate and Communicate, written by Annette LeBox and illustrated by Crystal Smith. Groundwood Books, 2024. $22.99 ages 6 and up

 

"In the sunlight, Aspen's leaves produce sugar. 
Trees use sugar to grow wood and bark and leaves.
Like human children, young trees love sweets! 

Beneath the earth, fungi wrap soft cottony threads
around Aspen's roots. Fungi can't produce sugar,
so Mother Tree feeds them too."

The scientific research done by Dr. Suzanne Simard has inspired many writers to look closely at forest communities. Prior to her strong and steady dedication to proving that trees of different species loan needed sugars, it was believed that trees, in fact, competed for the food and water they needed to survive. Dr. Simard proved that forest ecosystems are cooperative, rather than competitive. 

In this homage to the Wood Wide Web, Ms. LeBox focuses her story on the aspen grove. While discussing the 'mother tree', she explains that warm earth in the spring allows the birch tree to send 'sprouts from her roots' down into the earth. There, the tree provides food for fungi that carry messages to the fir and pine trees close by. The messages are warnings for the coming days. When the forest trees need water during the heat of the summer, the fungi release water to help. Thus, they sustain each other. Scientists today are looking to see if the same thing happens between other tree species. 

While explaining what is happening underground, the author also tells the story of the trees themselves and how they provide much of what is important to forest life. Seasons come and go, and the needs of the trees change. Within the forest, wild animals find support, mushrooms grow, and the aspen trees prosper through the year's cycle. After many years of sharing and caring for the forest community, Mother Aspen has lived a good life. It is her time to breathe her last. 

"As the Mother Tree takes her last breath, 
she passes on her wisdom to the next generation. 

Fungi spread the news through her vast underground threads. 
Our mother is dead."

The true beauty of the forest is clearly shown in artwork created using digital paint and layered textures. The aspen grove comes to life through the seasons. Each illustrated page helps readers understand the science the author provides. 

Back matter includes an author's note that further explains the cooperation that exists through the seasons to keep forests vibrant and viable. On another informative page, she speaks to the importance of aspen groves because of their biodiversity, and the destruction created when companies do their best to destroy them. A list of print and video resources is appended.