Author : Lynne Cherry, Translator : Alma Flor Ada
Preschool - 2nd Grade

El Gran Capoquero
The Great Kapok Tree

El Gran Capoquero, Softcover, Spanish, Book, Lynne Cherry, Lynn Cherry, Alma Flor Ada, Preschool - 2nd Grade, 9780152323202, $7.00
The Great Kapok Tree, Softcover, English, Book, Lynne Cherry, Lynn Cherry, Preschool - 2nd Grade, 9780152026141, $7.00

$95.92 for the Translation Books by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy Spanish Set, Including 20%-Off, Free Shipping, and No Sales Tax : 16 Softcover Spanish Books and 1 Boardbook

In the depths of the Amazon jungle, a man begins to cut down a great Kapok tree where a vast community of animals live. When he falls asleep, each animal comes to him to whisper in his ear "this is my home. Please don’t cut down the tree!"

Listen to Vienna Rose read The Great Kapok Tree to you.  A marvelous example of the magical encounter between a child and books that we wish for all children.

Amazon : If a tree falls in the forest... someone or something will always be there to hear it. Many, many creatures will feel the effects when their source of sustenance and shelter falls to the earth. So when a man is sent into the Amazon rain forest one day, under instructions to chop down a great kapok tree, many eyes watch him nervously. It's not long before he grows tired, though, and the "heat and hum" of the rain forest lulls him to sleep. One by one, snakes, bees, monkeys, birds, frogs, and even a jaguar emerge from the jungle canopy to plead with the sleeping ax-man to spare their home. When the man awakens, startled at all the rare and marvelous animals surrounding him, he picks up his ax as if to begin chopping again, then drops it and walks away, presumably never to return.  Unfortunately, there's always someone else who is willing to take his place, but the message of this environmental book is plain: Save the rain forest! The story itself is not overly compelling, but each personalized entreaty from the animals provides an accurate and persuasive scientific argument for preserving nature's gifts. Lynne Cherry's fertile watercolor and colored-pencil illustrations, including a map of the tropical rain forests of the world, are vivid and colorful. A fine starting point for a discussion about conservation. (Ages 4 to 8)

Publishers Weekly : In this breathtakingly beautiful picture book, Cherry combines illustrations that reveal a naturalist's reverence for beauty with a mythlike story that explains the ecological importance of saving the rain forests. The text is not a didactic treatise, but a simply told story about a man who falls asleep while chopping down a kapok tree. The forest's inhabitants--snakes, butterflies, a jaguar, and finally a child--each whisper in his ear about the terrible consequences of living in "a world without trees" or beauty, about the interconnectedness of all living things. When the man awakens and sees all the extraordinary creatures around him, he leaves his ax and "walks out of the rain forest." A map showing the earth's endangered forests and the creatures that dwell within ends the book which, like the rain forests themselves, is "wondrous and rare." Ages 4-8.

School Library Journal : Kindergarten-Grade 3-- Exhausted from heat and exertion, a lone man rests at the base of a Kapok tree that he is intent on felling. As he dozes, the animal residents of the enormous tree come to him, explain the tree's vital importance to their existence, and gently implore him to reconsider his labors. Lastly, a child of the Yanomamo tribe begs him to "please look upon us all with new eyes." He awakens to the menagerie assembled and seems to see them for the first time. The man departs, leaving his ax behind. This thinly veiled nature and conservation lesson succeeds in giving a simplified picture of the rain forest--from its canopy to its dense understory--and the interdependence of all the plant and animal life that exists within this fragile, shrinking ecosystem. Cherry's rich colored-pencil and watercolor drawings fairly buzz with life. She totally engages readers' attention and senses through vivid detail, dramatic perspective, and lifelike accuracy. The flora and fauna of the lush, steamy Brazilian rain forest seem to grow before readers' eyes, surrounding the text and the peaceful young man as he sleeps. Although the talking animals somewhat diminish the power of the message and undermine its seriousness, The Great Kapok Tree gives young readers a glimpse of and a feeling for an environment vastly different from their own. Spectacular endpapers include a map of the world's tropical rain forests and the amazing array of Amazon wildlife.

People : Exceptionally colorful, bright and full of life...Effectively makes specific the larger story of endangered rain forests by taking the problem one creature at a time.

Spanish Translation Books by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy :