46 Books About Trees To Deepen Your Connection With Nature

Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert

This book is a perfect introduction to trees and leaves, with interesting facts and bold illustrations to engage young arborists.

Buy it: Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf

Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson

This book is perfect for a reading corner or classroom library. After students know the basics about trees, they can make the magic happen with this interactive picture book.

Buy it: Tap the Magic Tree

The Busy Tree by Jennifer Ward

This is an introduction to the animals that make trees their home. This book is a great one to use at the start of a unit about trees. Read it aloud, then ask students to brainstorm questions they have about tree habitats.

Buy it: The Busy Tree

One Day This Tree Will Fall by Leslie Barnard Booth

What happens after a tree falls? Just how much happens as animals and nature take over a fallen tree will amaze students. Read this either during a unit on tree habitats or at the end of a tree unit to inspire students to look at felled trees differently.

Buy it: One Day This Tree Will Fall

The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry

All trees support habitats and animals. Explore the animals that make their homes in a kapok tree in this book. Use it to engage students in learning about the vast diversity of trees in our world.

Buy it: The Great Kapok Tree

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

This classic Dr. Seuss book is a great one to use to introduce students to the ideas behind environmental stewardship and the importance of trees in our environment. Discuss what happens when the truffula trees start to be cut down, what happens after the last tree is cut, and what might happen if the child plants the truffula seed?

Buy it: The Lorax

Tell Me, Tree: All About Trees for Kids by Gail Gibbons

Use this general book about trees and how to identify them to frame a unit on the trees that you see in your neighborhood.

Buy it: Tell Me, Tree

A Tree for All Seasons by Robin Bernard

As you study trees, put this book in your classroom library. The bright illustrations and readability make it a great book to reinforce student knowledge during independent reading.

Buy it: A Tree for All Seasons

The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons

This is a great book to use in a unit about trees, apples, or seasons. Gibbons tells the story of an apple tree through the seasons. After you read it, you can make apple sauce, do apple crafts, or compare the apple tree with other trees.

Buy it: The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree

Get it: Free Apple Printables

The City Tree by Shira Boss

In this story about how a tree that grows in a crack in the sidewalk transforms a community, students can talk about the urban landscape and how it can foster trees, and how we see the seasons change in the city.

Buy it: The City Tree

The Wisdom of Trees by Lita Judge

This book explores how trees work together to strengthen their tree communities, and how these tree communities have a broader impact. Show students how we are all connected, from root to branch.

Buy it: The Wisdom of Trees

The Last Tree by María Quintana Silva

When the trees in a forest decide to pick up their roots and leaves, one little boy takes steps to save his favorite tree and the other trees. A story about environmentalism and how we can all have an impact.

Buy it: The Last Tree

Tree Full of Wonder by Anna Smithers

This story shows the unbreakable connection between people and trees. Read it to inform and inspire students about their own connection to the trees in their world.

Buy it: Tree Full of Wonder

Who Will Plant a Tree? by Jerry Pallotta

In this book we see all the ways that trees get planted. Before you read this book, activate students’ background knowledge about how trees are planted. Then, build their knowledge with new and unusual ways that trees get started.

Buy it: Who Will Plant a Tree?

Strange Trees and the Stories Behind Them by Bernadette Pourquié and Cécile Gambini

Learn about the bubblegum tree, the strangler tree, and the upside-down tree in this book about one-of-a-kind trees. This book is a great one to inspire a research project about unique trees.

Buy it: Strange Trees

A Tree Is Nice by Janice May Udry

Use this book of poems about everyday life to inspire students to write their own simple yet lyrical poems.

Buy it: A Tree Is Nice

Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari

A lyrical ode to trees and what humans can learn from them. Read this as part of a unit on trees to examine how one poet is inspired by all the parts of a tree.

Buy it: Be a Tree!

We Planted a Tree by Diane Muldrow

A poem about two families who plant trees in different places, and how the trees provide for them and the earth. A great book to read in spring or for Earth Day.

Buy it: We Planted a Tree

Everything You Need for a Treehouse by Carter Higgins

In this lyrical book, children build a treehouse and wonder about all the things it could be and what it could mean to them. Read this book before asking students to imagine or create a treehouse of their own.

Buy it: Everything You Need for a Treehouse

Poetree by Shauna LaVoy Reynolds

In this story, a young girl celebrates spring with a poem and posts it to a tree. When she returns, a new poem is waiting for her. Use this book to start your own poem exchanges.

Buy it: Poetree

When Grandma Gives You a Lemon Tree by Jamie L.B. Deenihan

When a little girl gets a lemon tree as a birthday present, she cares for it and is surprised by the results. Use this book to talk about turning bad situations around or how to handle disappointment.

Buy it: When Grandma Gives You a Lemon Tree

Our Tree Named Steve by Alan Zweibel

This story about how a tree becomes a part of a family has themes of family, love, and resilience. Use it to talk about the things that are important to us, and how they become that way.

Buy it: Our Tree Named Steve

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

This funny story about how a boy tries everything to free a kite that’s stuck in a tree will inspire a conversation about determination.

Buy it: Stuck

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Read this book with younger children to talk about the cycle of life and change. Read it with older students to analyze what’s really going on here. Is the man taking too much from the tree? What could this book be a metaphor for? 

Buy it: The Giving Tree

All From a Walnut by Ammi-Joan Paquette

When Emilia finds a walnut, Grandpa tells her the story of how he traveled to a new country with nothing but a bag and a nut in his pocket. This sweet, intergenerational story has themes of love, family, and putting down roots. 

Buy it: All From a Walnut

The Together Tree by Aisha Saeed

New at his school, Rumi finds refuge under a willow tree. When a peer stands up to a bully, the willow tree becomes a space they can share. Read this book to teach students how to stand up to bullies and spread kindness.

Buy it: The Together Tree

Little Tree by Loren Long

This book is an ode to change and growing up. It’s a great read during a unit on trees or when students are talking about changes in their lives.

Buy it: Little Tree

Memories of a Birch Tree by Daniel Cañas

Another book about change and trees, a birch tree is put onto a truck and finds itself in a city. It feels homesick until a gardener starts to tend it. Talk about how change can help us grow.

Buy it: Memories of a Birch Tree 

Nell Plants a Tree by Anne Wynter

This back-and-forth story tells the story of a pecan tree, from when Nell planted it to when her grandchildren ate pecans from its branches. Use this story to talk about how we pass along kindness, or how our families pass stories and characteristics down from one generation to another.

Buy it: Nell Plants a Tree

Abuela’s Wishing Tree by Mitzi Fernandez Spitzer

In this bilingual picture book, a young Cuban American girl celebrates her quinceañera. She remembers a tree that her abuela (grandmother) planted after immigrating to the United States and how the tree holds memories of her family. A great book to bring into a discussion of family and tradition. 

Buy it: Abuela’s Wishing Tree

Julie and the Mango Tree by Sadé Smith

Julie loves to eat mangoes, but no matter how hard she tries, the mango tree won’t produce any. How can she convince the tree to give her just one mango? A great book to use when talking about persuasion. 

Buy it: Julie and the Mango Tree

The Tree Lady by H. Joseph Hopkins

This picture book biography is about activist Kate Sessions, who helped San Diego grow from a dry desert into a lush, leafy city. It’s a great book to read when talking about women who changed the world, or to talk about how we can impact the spaces we love. 

Buy it: The Tree Lady

This Very Tree: A Story of 9/11, Resilience, and Regrowth by Sean Rubin

This is the story of what happened after 9/11 with one Callery pear tree that came to memorialize community and resilience. Read this book on 9/11 for another perspective on the event.

Buy it: This Very Tree

The Forever Tree by Tereasa Surratt and Donna Lukas

This story is based on a Wisconsin tree and the people who helped the animals that lived in it when the tree became sick. Read this story and talk about how we can join forces to help our community.

Buy it: The Forever Tree

Wangari’s Trees of Peace by Jeanette Winter

The true story of Wangari Maathai, a woman in Kenya who, after learning that “a tree is worth more than its wood,” set up to replant the forests of Kenya after the deforestation left by British colonists. Students can read this book and talk about how one person can have a big impact. 

Buy it: Wangari’s Trees of Peace

Luna & Me: The True Story of a Girl Who Lived in a Tree by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw

In this picture book, a girl climbs a tree to save a forest of redwoods. Read this and talk about how we show that something is important to us.

Buy it: Luna & Me

Listen to the Language of the Trees by Tera Kelley

In this book, with detailed illustrations, students learn how trees “talk” with one another and how that can impact an entire forest.

Buy it: Listen to the Language of the Trees

The Magic & Mystery of Trees by Jen Green

A book with lush illustrations for students who are learning how to use reference texts to gather information.

Buy it: The Magic & Mystery of Trees

The Tree Book: The Stories, Science, and History of Trees by DK

This beautifully illustrated book is for older students who are researching trees or who just want to learn more about them.

Buy it: The Tree Book

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

This is a coming-of-age story of a young girl in Brooklyn, NY, at the turn of the 20th century. It’s a classic for a reason. Recommend it to readers who like reading historical fiction or stories about growing up.

Buy it: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

No one can turn a tree into a main character like Katherine Applegate. In Wishtree, she tells the story of a red oak tree that is a place for people to place their wishes. The tree watches over the neighborhood and notices when a new family moves in and she is needed more than ever. This is a great class read-aloud with themes of community, kindness, and hope.

Buy it: Wishtree

The Mulberry Tree by Allison Rushby

In The Mulberry Tree, 10-year-old Immy and her family run away to a tiny village in England. Their house is neighbored by a fierce-looking mulberry tree and a legend that comes with it—that the tree steals girls living in the cottage by the end of their 11th birthday. It sounds ridiculous, until Immy starts hearing songs. … A great read for mystery-lovers. 

Buy it: The Mulberry Tree

The Unlocking: Eternal Tree Rising by Julie Hojnacki

Lily, age 11, feels invisible. She’s visiting her grandparents’ farm, but does her family even know she exists? When she discovers a book on her grandmother’s shelf, she realizes that it contains an ancient artifact. Then, when her father and millions of others disappear, Lily goes on an adventure to find the Tree of Life. Recommend this novel to students who love fantasy stories.

Buy it: The Unlocking: Eternal Tree Rising

The Overstory by Richard Powers

This book is organized like a tree, with concentric rings of fables that take the reader from antebellum New York to the Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. This story is a book for high schoolers who are interested in dystopian fiction. 

Buy it: The Overstory