Boy in Willow Tree

Image of the Week

willow – detail

 © DURGA YAEL BERNHARD

Boy in Willow Tree

With the willow trees just beginning to blush with color here in the Northeast, it seems appropriate to post this illustration from my new picture book, Just Like Me, Climbing a Tree – published by Wisdom Tales Press just two weeks ago.

Willows have always been among my favorite trees, partly because I grew up with one.  In my next-door neighbor’s back yard, a giant willow was like a massive, leafy sanctuary where my sister and I climbed together with kids from the neighborhood.  The tree had massive, snake-like roots, and a wide branch that grew parallel to the ground.  Working on this illustration, I remembered what it felt like to clamber on the rough and wrinkled bark.  The tree was so strong, yet its leaves so slender and small, waving in the breeze like hair.  Always among the first to leaf out in the spring, there is something cheerful about a willow tree.

There was no question that I would include a weeping willow in this book. When I found a photo of this particular tree in a library book, I was delighted.  Such individual character!  I decided to place the tree in Holland, where willows thrive on the abundant ground water, and weather the same winds that are harnessed by windmills.

Just Like Me, Climbing a Tree is a rhyming poem about a child’s tactile interactions with a tree. On every page, it’s a different child, in a different tree, in a different country.  The back of the book contains more information about each tree.  But as much as the trees, the book is about the children who climb them.  Despite their many differences, they are all the same.

To read more about this unique picture book, please see my post of two weeks ago.  To order a signed copy from my webstore, click here.  To order the book from Amazon, click here.  You can also order it through your local bookstore, or request it at your library – many librarians will honor such requests.

Thank you for supporting my books and my art!

seedling

D Yael Bernhard
http://dyaelbernhard.com

 

 

MULTICULTURAL BOOKS WRITTEN AND/OR ILLUSTRATED BY D YAEL BERNHARD:

JUST LIKE ME, CLIMBING A TREE: Exploring Trees Around the World – new!!
WHILE YOU ARE SLEEPING: A Lift-the-Flap Book of Time Around the World
A Children’s Book Council Notable Book for Global Awareness
AROUND THE WORLD IN ONE SHABBAT – A Sydney Taylor Honor Book
A RIDE ON MOTHER’S BACK – An American Bookseller Assoc. Pick of the List
HAPPY NEW YEAR – New Year’s Traditions Around the World

 

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