Readers can almost hear boots crunching in the snow during this subtle, stylish wintry nature walk. A boy and his dog move from tree to leafless tree as the text describes the different shapes, textures and growth habits of their discoveries. The juxtaposition of words describing the trees and the images of boy and dog either making snow angels or a snowman together provides a needed playfulness to the quiet, informational and at times somewhat clunky rhymes. Evans's clean, nostalgic illustrations combine block print, collage and watercolor perfectly to invoke the peacefulness of newly fallen snow, bringing to mind, in the best way, a letterpress holiday greeting card. The simplicity of the illustrations sometimes foregoes the details of the trees for the sake of their muted and sophisticated style. It wouldn't serve as a field guide, nor is it meant to, but still works for the nature lover. A short glossary of trees is included in the back. Overall, a visually striking, cozy winter read.

Alone in the snowy woods with his dog, a boy discovers the wonder of winter trees, one at a time, in a big, quiet space. On every double-page spread, four lines of simple verse and bright linoleum block prints decorated with watercolor and collage capture the stark outlines and the details of what he sees, hears, and touches ("Crunch! Our footsteps make the only sound"). The botanical facts are part of the wonder ("Trees that once had leaves are bare"); he looks closely at six different trees, appreciating the bur oak's massive, intertwining limbs; a bird nesting in the trunk of the paper birch; the sharp needles ("Ouch!") of the white spruce; and more. The blend of play, science, poetry, and art is beautiful; and notes at the back provide more facts about each tree. Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" will make a lovely read aloud connection.

Winter Trees, by Carole Gerber, is simply written and crisply illustrated. A child and his dog share a walk through a snowy woods, inspecting a variety of trees . At the end, there's a review of the different characteristics of these trees in winter. This book is a nice introduction to the art of observing nature. It also sends a message that humans are part of nature--they move and act in it.

One cold snowy day a boy is out walking with his dog. The trees that once were so lush with leaves are now bare, and as the boy walks by them he shows us how we can tell which tree is which. A maple tree has an egg shape, while the beech looks more like an oval. Then there are the evergreen that stay green all year round though “older needles near the trunk/drop off and fall onto the ground.”

Even in the depths of winter you will see that “tan leaves still cling to limbs and branches” when you look up at a beech tree. Later, before it is time to go inside the boy uses some yellow beech tree leaves to serve as hair for a snowman that he builds.

With its image filled and very musical rhyming text, this picture book will take young readers on a delightful journey though snowy woods. They will learn how to identify trees and they will also learn how important these trees are to the animals that love in the woods. A section at the back of the book provides readers with more information about the seven kinds of trees that are mentioned in the book.

Leslie Evan’s multimedia illustrations are a joy to look at, and they perfectly compliment Carole Gerber’s rhymes.

This author and illustrator duo have also created another wonderful book about nature and the seasons called Leaf Jumpers.

Channeling Joyce Kilmer on a cold day, Carole Gerber versifies on leaflessness—the geometry of branches, the texture of bark—in Winter Trees (Charlesbridge Publishing, $15.95, ages 4 to 7). Leslie Evans's illustrations are captivating and help move things along by invoking the point of view of a boy and his dog on a walk. Evergreens provide a splash of color for the climax.

The main lesson here: In the absence of leaves, you can identify trees by their shape alone—and bark and buds offer clues too. A sugar maple's leafless branches are arrayed in the shape of a big egg; the American beech is less oblong. The bur oak has a massive trunk and chaotic, twisting limbs. And so on. An appendix displays the forms of common trees side-by-side for easy comparison.

Readers will also learn some wildlife facts. For instance, rabbits eat the bark of the paper birch, and deer snack on poplar buds that will unfurl in spring.

Winter may not be the most thrilling time to look at trees, and young readers might prefer to identify them by the characteristics of their leaves rather than by their leafless shapes. But you can't stay indoors all winter, so you go exploring with the trees you have. This story will deliver immediate gratification to many young readers in cabin-feverish winter climes around the globe—and may even ensure that they'll pay close attention when the trees begin their glorious transformation.—Bill Cannon

Many students have faced the fall "leaf project." But did you know that you can identify trees and learn lots about them even when they're stripped bare of leaves in the winter? Carole Gerber, an author who lives in Powell, creates a poem packed with information in Winter Trees, a picture book illustrated by Leslie Evans. As a boy and his dog walk through the snowy forest, they use their senses to discover details about a variety of trees. The branches of a maple form an egg shape. The trunk of a stately birch forms a "V," and its peeling bark feeds hungry rabbits. Gerber's text is rhythmic and informative: Tall yellow poplar's furrowed bark surrounds a trunk that's straight and neat. Its reddish twigs hold puffy buds--for deer, a tasty winter treat. Evans' beautiful and deceptively simple illustrations (linoleum block print, watercolor and collage) show variations of the winter landscape with wildlife scattered about--a hare hiding in the bushes, or a woodpecker tucked in hole in a tree. At the end, Gerber provides more information about identifying trees simply by trunks and branches as she reinforces the seasonal life cycle in this quiet, poetic and scientific book.

This is a treasure of a nonfiction book written in verse. The rhyming text introduces young children to the different shapes of the crowns of deciduous trees once they are bare of leaves—

the egg shape of the maple tree;
the taller oval of the beech…
The V formation of the birch;
the yellow poplar, wide and high;
the spreading structure of the oak,
its branches reaching toward the sky.

Gerber also writes about the bark and buds and other characteristics of different trees: The American beech’s bark is smooth and silver-gray; the yellow poplar’s is furrowed. The sugar maple’s buds are stout and have clawlike tips; the poplar’s reddish twigs hold puffy buds. She writes, too, about evergreens and how they keep their needles throughout the year. The back matter includes three paragraphs with further information about trees and small illustrations of the seven trees written about in the book.
The spare illustrations created from linoleum block print, watercolor, and collage, are a fine complement to the text. Set mostly against a plain white or pale blue background, Evans focuses the reader’s eye on the shapes of the trees, the leaves, the buds, the bark—whatever is the main point of each page of text—and help to enhance the information that is conveyed through Gerber’s verse
Winter Trees would make a great read-aloud for children in Pre-K through the early elementary grades. It’s an excellent book for young naturalists and one that encourages kids to observe nature more closely.

This book is all about the wonder of winter and its trees, as seen through the eyes of a young boy and his dog, taking a walk in the snow, exploring shapes and textures and colors and the life of the trees: “Trees that once had leaves are bare. / They’re dressed instead in lacy white. / Snow dusts their trunks / and coats their limbs / with flakes that outline them with light.” We see—through the boy’s eyes—the maple tree, the beech, birch, and oak, as well as the yellow poplar, evergreen, and more. The book even closes with a spread about how to identify trees in winter.

It’s a quiet, little wonder, this book. The verse is uncluttered and reverent, and Leslie’s brightly-colored block prints, decorated with watercolor and collage (with some digital enhancement, as well), are striking. Kirkus Reviews called it a “subtle, stylish wintry nature walk” and a “visually striking, cozy winter read,” and Booklist wrote, “{t}he blend of play, science, poetry, and art is beautiful.”

When trees shed their leaves in autumn, they reveal distinctive shapes by which they can be identified. "Winter Trees" accompanies a boy and his dog as they walk among common American trees, enjoying the stark beauty of their bare turnks and branches. Rhythmic, rhyming text invites the reader along, to meet and recognize familiar trees by their silhouettes, without their leafy coverings. Intriguing illustrations are a combination of linoleum prints, watercolor and collage enhanced on a computer. The result appears simple at first look but includes lovely touches of warmth and detail. Further information at the end of the book includes paintings of leafless American beech, sugar maple, paper birch, yellow poplar, bur oak, Eastern hemlock and white spruce trees. This quiet book may well inspire a child to invite his or her favorite adult out for a wintry walk in the woods.