Discover the incredible life of trees through forty eye-opening short essays that explore trees as miraculous, living, breathing protectors of our Earth. Environmental activist and author Joan Maloof’s elegant writing turns science into storytelling. There are an estimated three trillion trees in the world, half as many as there once were. To honor and protect these vital organisms, a shift in perspective can help expand our understanding beyond simply appreciating trees' remarkable beauty to discovering the ways they are inextricably connected to our planet, our fellow species, and our spirits. Within these pages, biologist Joan Maloof offers forty distinct ways of encountering, exploring, and learning about a tree. Through engaging, impassioned essays, paired with beautiful watercolor illustrations, she invites us to get to know a tree: * By its leaves, whether it is needle-leaved or broad-leaved. Leaves can also be different on an individual tree; for example, those on the lower part, called shade leav