Happy Birthday!
Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth Celebrates 20 Years in Print!
It’s hard to believe that last August marked the 20th anniversary of Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth!!!
Twenty years ago I was visiting family at a cottage in Gatineau for the August long weekend. We came into Ottawa for the day, so of course I had to pop into the @indigorideaucentre at the @cfrideaucentre to see if it had arrived. And lo and behold, there it was - the beautiful cover of Tree of Life starring back at me from the shelves. Seeing it sent an electrical impulse through my body, unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. A feeling I will never forget.
That little book took me on so many adventures - from inspiring students through countless school visits to meeting and learning from so many amazing educators. I got to travel across Canada and the US, attending conferences, festivals and award ceremonies. The very first ceremony I attended as an author was in Chicago, where Tree of Life won the 2004 ASPCA Henry Bergh Children’s Award.
Tree of Life will always hold a special place in my heart. It is the book that started it all!! And it fortified my desire to write children’s books as well as explore the opportunities they provide for building environmental literacy.
And Tree of Life is still going strong!! Whenever I travel, I meet teachers who use it in their classroom, and young readers who delight in sharing with me that they’ve recently taken it out of the library or that they have it on their bookshelf at home. It makes my heart sing.
Thank you to Kids Can Press for taking a chance on me all those years ago, and for your continued unwavering support of my work!!
Here’s to many more books to come!
Changing the world…one book at a time!!
