About Do You Speak Tree?
🍎🌳 Author’s Summary: If a tree falls and no one around cares,
what do you do? Oakie the good-natured oak tree goes on an adventure to find
help. But when Oakie speaks, would-be friends become confused. The problem is
that Oakie speaks “tree,” a fun visual language that no one else understands.
That all changes when Oakie meets Art, an elementary student with a crayon in
hand and a plan in mind to inspire the world. Will Art & Oakie save the
day? That all depends… Do You Speak Tree? This book is an
exquisite and thought-provoking eco-friendly graphic novel for kids. Its
nearly wordless story makes environmentalism universal and fun for everyone,
no matter your reading level.
🍎🌳 Author: Josh Oaktree
🍎🌳 Illustrator: JosianeVlitos
🍎🌳 Publisher: Oak Tree Comics LLC
🍎🌳 Date: April 22, 2021
🍎🌳 Pages: 58
About Wordless Books
Wordless books are often overlooked as a valuable teaching resource. Since
they have no words in them, they tend to get labeled as ‘too easy’ or as ‘baby
books.’ Wordless books, however, reinforce some critical reading skills:
-
Wordless books help improve children’s confidence and independence while
reading. -
Children have an opportunity to use their imaginations and practice their
inferential skills while reading wordless books. -
Wordless books reinforce verbal skills by encouraging children to talk
about the illustrations, ask and answer questions about the story, and
retell the story in their own words. -
When children have a chance to talk about wordless books with other
people, it helps with vocabulary acquisition. -
Children learn the importance of illustrations in wordless books…
illustrations show us what’s happening in the story and are more than
decorations. -
While children read wordless books, they learn about story plots and
structure. -
Wordless books can be a source of inspiration for creative writing and
writing skills.
Story Elements
All good children’s books… including wordless books and graphic novels…
have characters, settings, problems, and solutions. As you look through the
pages of
Do You Speak Tree? with your students, talk with them about what they
see happening on each page…
Who is the main character?
What is the main character doing?
What is the main character looking at?
How does the main character feel about what he sees?
What is the biggest problem of the story?
What is its solution?
What are some critical events in the story?
What can we learn about the environment and environmental stewardship?
What is the overall message in Do You Speak Tree?
🍎 characters: Oakie, forest animals, Art, students in Art’s class,
Art’s teacher, bulldozer operator, business owner, police
🍎
setting: outdoors, in the forest, at school, modern-day
🍎
problem: Oakie wakes up and sees that his forest is being destroyed
by bulldozers, cranes, and trucks.
🍎 solutions: 1. Oakie
organizes a protest with the animals and school children to stop the
destruction of the forest. 2. Oakie and the school children work together to
replant the trees that were cut down.
Creative Writing Minilesson and Free Printable
After reading and discussing Do You Speak Tree? with your students,
use the reading comprehension activity below as a fun way for them to
demonstrate their understanding of the story.
-
First, have your students work independently on these pages to
summarize and describe the important events in Do You Speak Tree? Have your students draw these events in each of the boxes (eight boxes
in all). You can decide how detailed you want your students’ drawings to
be. -
Then, have them partner up to share their stories with one
another. - optional: Your students can cut out the boxes on each page and staple
them together to make their own graphic novels!
please click on the image above. Clicking this image will take you to the
Teachers-Pay-Teachers third-party website. This is a FREE download— no
purchase necessary.
guide that goes with it, please visit the official
Oak Tree Comics website.
Did you enjoy this blog post about Do You Speak Tree by Josh Oaktree?
If so, check out these other posts about more environmental children’s books
and activities:
search words: environment, environmental stewardship, ecology, Earth Day, climate science, reforestation, peaceful protest, protect the earth, protect the environment
