The Witness Trees

Age range 6 to 9

In evocative verse and stunning artwork,Witness Treesis the story of the world's most enduring witnesses: the trees. From the Flower of Kent apple tree still standing in Sir Isaac Newton's yard, to the English oak given to Jesse Owens after facing down Hitler at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, to the California redwood saved from destruction by July Butterfly Hill, to the Callery pear tree still miraculously alive after the World Trade Towers fell,Witness Treesis a moving tribute to the world's most famous trees, many of which still need humanity's protection. Be moved, be inspired, be amazed by the quiet, reverberating voices of nature's sentinels: the witness trees.

For generations, trees have silently witnessed history's most pivotal moments. Here are their stories.

In the sweep of wind over grass,

near the pulse of rivers,

we stand,

monuments of bark

and age-curled green.

Above, an avalanche of stars.

Below, the ocean of earth.

Within, the uncounted lives

birthed, bloomed, and plucked

from the gardens we tend.

We survive.

We remember.

We witness.