עצים וצמחים

Family reading advice

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Illustrations allow young readers to be exposed to art, and get to know new worlds that enhance the written story. At times illustrations tell another or different story than the one told in words. While reading this book, we recommend looking at the illustrations together, take a break in the reading, take another look at the illustrations, and allow the children to find special details that speak to them.

Caring and trying

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Bear is trying to help his plant. He wants to take care of it. You can discuss and share – who is it that you care about? And who do you take care of? A pet? A toy? A beloved plant or perhaps a younger sibling? – How do you care for them? Have you ever tried to care for someone or something that didn’t work as planned, but things worked out in a way that you did not expect?

What illustrations tell us

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

What is happening to the bunnies? The amusing illustrations in this book describe an entire underground world. Together, you can look at the illustrations and tell one another what the bunnies are doing. When are they happy, sad, full or busy?

What can we see from here? And from there?

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

What can we see when we are sitting on the couch? And when we are standing in the center of the room? Or crawling under the table? Take turns as each family member picks a location from which to look at the room: What has caught their attention? Do they see details that others don’t see?

Pinterest

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

More arts & crafts, songs, and activities can be found on Sifriyat Pijama Library’s Pinterest page. .

QR code – What can we do with a carrot?

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Would you like to prepare a carrot for planting and eating? Scan the QR code to discover what can become of a small piece of carrot.

Discussion

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Do you, much like the pine tree, feel lonely sometimes? Have you ever seen a boy or girl who seemed a little lonely? You may want to discuss this feeling of “being all alone” and what we could do when we – or those around us – feel this way.

Some information on pine trees

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

The Jerusalem Pine (more commonly known in English as the Aleppo Pine) is the species of pine trees that grows in Israel. It is highly prevalent in the Carmel and Judea Mountains areas. As the Jewish community, the Yishuv, grew, it began to plant large pine tree forests in the Land of Israel. The pine tree contains resin, and in springtime, its branches are densely filled with pinecones. Would you like to learn more about the pine tree? Feel free to look for images and additional information online.

The next chapter

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

What will happen once the trees grow and a forest is created? Will they be friends with the pine tree? Will other friends come and visit? And what will the children do in the new forest? – You may enjoy discussing the next chapter of the book, acting it out, or drawing it together.

A game – Who am I?

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Am I the wind blowing? Or the falling rain? Perhaps a leaping rabbit? You could play a form of charades by taking turns miming one of the characters in the book, and having the others try to guess which one you’ve chosen.

How to adopt a tree

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

How about picking a tree in your area and taking care of it? You could clean around it, place a mat under it, and observe the small animals that use it as part of their habitat. If you look carefully, you may even catch it smiling.

Pinterest

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Pinterest –  Suggestions for arts & crafts are available on the The Lonely Pine Tree page on the PJLibrary Pinterest

Discussing

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

“But Robin doesn’t care, she likes sitting on her own like that”: Do you think Robin is really alone? What do you do when you’re on your own? Where do you like to spend your alone time? You may enjoy taking a stroll through the book, and discussing the experiences Robin undergoes when she’s in the tree’s company. Which of Robin’s experiences did you like best?

Illustrations, color, and creativity

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

This book is rich in color and details that change with each season. You may want to suggest that your child look through the pages, and search for various items: leaves, clouds, fruit, or animals. Perhaps your child can look for the main colors in each page – a red or green page – and draw pictures that are inspired by the book’s illustrations: a green drawing, a yellow one, or a rainbow-colored one.

A game called "What's my Secret?"

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

How good are you at guessing secrets? You may enjoy playing the following guessing game: Each player in turn picks a “secret” according to a pre-determined topic, such as animals, books, or something found in nature. The other participants must guess what the “secret” is by asking “yes or no” questions.

Environment – Adopting a tree

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

How about going outside and looking for a tree close to home? What does it look like? What color are its leaves? Perhaps the tree is bare, and has none? Is it bearing fruit? If so, careful! Not all fruit are edible. You could stroke the tree trunk, and notice the birds and other animals nearby. You may want to visit it from time to time to see whether and how it changes throughout the year. With Robin as your inspiration – can you think of a gift that you would want to give your adopted tree?

Pinterest

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

  – suggestions for game cards and arts & crafts can be found on the PJLibrary Pinterest page.

Discussing – What about our world?

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

What is your responsibility, as parents and children, for your friends, family, and environment? Which roles do you play within the family, and which additional roles would you like to assume responsibility for in order to help others and your surroundings? Perhaps you could discuss and make suggestions that would help your family in their day-to-day, such as: sweeping the porch; checking in with a sick friend; recycling bottles, paper, and bio-degradable materials; set the table for dinner, or tightly close leaking faucets.

Doing some arts & crafts – A family tree

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Cut out some paper leaves. Each family member gets some leaves, and writes suggestions for actions that would be considerate of other members of the family, such as: leaving enough warm water for others to shower; feeding your pet hamsters, or saying ‘good morning’ with a smile. Make your tree in painting form or some other artform using recycled materials or tree branches you have collected, and attach all the leaves to it.

You could try to put your ideas to practice. How about deciding to try out one suggestion each day? And if it doesn’t go too well for you, don’t worry, tomorrow is another day…

Suggestions and examples can be found on the PJLibrary Pinterest page – The Juice Tree.

Playing – How can we pass leaves round?

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

The villagers must cooperate for the tree to grow more leaves. Games are a delightful way of working together as a family: cut out a paper leaf, and stand in a row. Ready? Here we go!

Pass the leaf round from one player to the next without touching it with your hands. If any of you struggle, help by giving them advice and cheering them on. By way of celebrating when the game is over, enjoy your favorite beverage.

Raise your glass to your cooperation, and the many collaborations still to come!

Continuing with the story

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

The book ends with Mr. Milly’s silence. He smiles, and helps water the tree. And then what happens? You could try to continue the story from this point: What was Mr. Milly thinking while he smiled quietly? What happened to the juice tree and the villagers? Did they keep on picking a single leaf? Or did something surprising happen down the line?

מילות מפתח -

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

  – suggestions for game cards and arts & crafts can be found on the PJLibrary Pinterest page.

Datia Ben Dor

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1944, and immigrated to Israel when she was a year old. During her early professional career, Ben Dor engaged in musical education, writing screenplays and songs for many TV shows for preschoolers, such as Parpar Nechmad (Lovely Butterfly) and the Israeli version of Sesame Street. Many of her children’s songs and books are very well-known and loved, among them: Ani Tamid Nishar Ani (Me is Me), Digdugim (Tickles), Otiyot Mefatpetot (Chatty Alphabet), and Kacha Zeh BeIvrit (That’s How Hebrew Is). Datia Ben Dor won awards for her contribution to children’s literature, such as the ACUM Award and Bialik Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Children’s Literature.

Proposed Family Activities:

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

• The child in this book asks the tree what it is like to be a tree. It may be interesting to discover your own child’s answer to the question: What is it like to be a child? What makes you special, and what makes you happy?

• Itay Bekin, the illustrator, added details that are not explicitly mentioned in the text of the story. Can your child identify all that is found underground, by the tree’s roots? Who makes frequent appearances in the illustrations, flying around throughout the book?

• The tree is happy to be rooted to a single spot, hear the birds chirping, and feel the dew falling. Perhaps you would enjoy playing “kind eye” with your child – look out the window together, look for good things, and share them with each other. You can then look inside the house, and continue playing by taking turns to tell each other what is good about your home and family, and what it is you like about them.

• You could go tree-spotting near your home. Try to notice which trees are growing in your area: Are they decorative or fruit-bearing? How can you tell whether they are young or old? Perhaps you could pack this book, a blanket and some refreshments, and read the story together in nature, under your favorite tree.

• Trees are very useful to us. You may enjoy walking through your home and looking for everything that is made from trees (wood) or their fruit. For instance: some of your furniture may be made of various kinds of wood; paper is made of wood shavings, as are books; olive oil is used for cooking and candle-lighting; wine and raisins come from grapes that grow on vines, and so on.

• Datia Ben Dor has written many well-loved stories and poems. You may want to look for them at home or the local library, and read them together.

Proposed Family Activities:

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

• How about packing this book along with some refreshments and a blanket, finding a beloved tree in nature, and reading the story there together. Afterwards, you may enjoy collecting pine cones, tree bark, leaves, and more. When you return home, you can use them to make a piece of artwork together.

• You may want to snuggle up and look at the magnificent illustrations closely. Can your child identify some familiar trees by their illustration?

• After you finish reading the story, you may want to ask your child what they think Giora will do now, and what will happen to the trees. Perhaps you would enjoy writing up a creative follow-up to the story told, and illustrating it.

• Baobab, loquat, Tamarisk, Pecan… Giora knows every tree by name. what kinds of trees grow near your home? How can you identify them? How can you tell them apart? You may want to take go tree-spotting together, learn about the trees you see, and make an illustrated tree guide together.

• How about taking a walk near your home? Are there any open spaces or dilapidated courtyards nearby? Perhaps you and some friends could clean them up, and make them look nicer. You could even plant a community garden with your neighbors.

• Do you know any other stories or poems about trees (like Zuta and the Apple Tree by Orit Raz, What’s it like to be a Tree? By Datia Ben Dor, The Abba Tree by Devora Busheri, What Does it Take by Gianni Rodari)? You may want to look for them at home or in the library, and read them together.

This is the last book your child will receive from PJ Library this year. We hope you have enjoyed reading, discussing, and doing the activities together. We wish you a summer full of wonderful experiences and story times. See you next year!

Sitting close and reading together

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Sitting close and reading together – You may want to look for the illustration of the wilted tree, stop reading, and ask your child for their opinion as to why the tree is not blooming, and what it is missing. At the end of the story, you may want to discuss what caused the tree to bloom once again, and whether that was Mr. Zuta’s intention when he planted the flower patches.

Do trees have feelings?

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Do trees have feelings? Perhaps you would enjoy looking for the page on which Mr. Zuta’s friends suggest that he get rid of the tree. You could imagine a dialogue taking place. If the tree could speak, what would it say to Mr. Zuta and his friends?

I want a garden too!

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

I want a garden too! – Mr. Zuta is jealous of his friends’ gardens. You may want to share a memory with your child of having wanted something that another person had. How did you feel? What did you do? If you would like to have a garden too, you could plant flowers, herbs, or vegetables in your yard or window-box. Look after your plants, and watch them grow.

Planting a community garden together

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Planting a community garden together – You may want to take a walk in the area surrounding your home. Are there any open spaces, or abandoned courtyards? You could clean up the area together with some friends, and make it more beautiful. You could even plant a community garden in collaboration with your neighbors.

Right under one's nose

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Right under one’s nose – Mr. Zuta did not notice the change in his apple tree until his friends remarked on it. Have you ever failed to notice something good that was happening around you? You may enjoy walking through your house and backyard, looking for all the beautiful things that have grown or changed there lately.

A recipe for apple crumble

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Ingredients

For the crumbs:

100g of sugar

80g of butter, cubed

100g of flour

For the apples:

5–6 apples

20g of butter

3 tablespoons of sugar (you could add a tablespoon of cinnamon or lemon juice, depending on your preference).

Method:

1. Mix the sugar, butter, and flour together until you get medium-sized crumbs. Store in fridge for one hour.
2. Peel the apples, and cut them into wedges.
3. Melt the butter in a frying pan, and cook the apples in it for 10–15 minutes while stirring, until the apples are soft, but retain their shape.
4. Place the apples in a baking pan, sprinkle the crumbs on top, and bake in medium–high heat for approximately 20 minutes, until golden.
5. Serve hot or at room temperature. Bon Appetit!

Where is the Heart?

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

You may want to look at the illustrations in the book together. What grows on each tree? Has your child noticed that the story begins with a small heart on Hannan’s pocket, and ends in five heart-shaped trees? Leaf through the pages and try to find the bird on each page.

A Bell and Song

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

You may enjoy reading the story several times. Your child may want to join in for the refrain: “דין דין דון בפעמון”. Once you have read the story through several times, your child may be familiar enough with the story to tell it using the illustrations.

The Five Sense Game

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Perhaps you would like to play a fruit guessing game together. Cover your child’s eyes with a kerchief, and hand them some fruit. Can they recognize it? You may want to guide them to use their sense of touch and smell. They can also bite the fruit, and try to identify it through their sense of taste.

One Book Leads to Another

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Do you know any other books written and illustrated by Rinat Hoffer (such as Ayelet Metayelet and Purple Monster)? You may want to look for them at home or the library, and read them together.

The Trees around Us

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Perhaps you would like to take a walk together, and look for trees growing in the area: are they bearing fruit like the trees planted by Hannan the Gardener?

A Surprise in the Avocado

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Would you also like to grow a treasure? You may want to take an avocado pit, stich four toothpicks through it and place it in a jar, with the sharp point pointing upwards, and the wider section dipped in water. You could follow it as it sprouts: is your avocado pit growing into a tree?

Where's the Treasure?

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

You may enjoy going on a treasure hunt. You could prepare notes with clues, and lead your child closer to the hidden treasure with each note.

Fruit Salad

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

How about making fruit salad? You may want to take a tangerine, orange, apples, dates, and other fruit, and make a healthy, yummy fruit salad together.

My Flower

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

You may want to take the time to leaf through the book together. Which poems did you like best? And which flowers? Unlike a continuous tale, a collection of poetry may be read at any order – you could choose a flower at a time, and read the poem about it together.

Where's the Frog?

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

There are hidden animals on every page of the book. Your child may want to look for them in the illustrations. Have they found the frog, bees, chameleon, and caterpillar?

Savyon and Ms. Rakefet – the Musical!

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

You may enjoy drawing and coloring your own Mr. Savyon, Ms. Rakefet, or other characters from the book, glue them onto popsicle sticks, and put on a show based on the poems.

Repeating Rhymes

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

You may want to read the poems several times. After a while, your child will know them, and finish some rhyming lines for you.

Following Flowers

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Which flowers grow near your house? You could take a walk, and look for flowers: taste a wood sorrel (חמציץ, Hamtzitz), touch the thorns of a rose (ורד, Vered), blow on a white Senecio (סביון, Savyon), or smell a wonderful daffodil (נרקיס, Narkis). Are the flowers you found similar to the illustrations in the book?

A Visit to the Nursery

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Perhaps you would like to visit a nursery, and choose bulbs, seeds, or a plant in a flowerpot together. Your child could help water the flowers at home, and watch them grow.

Family Activities:

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

• The adults in the story are doubtful that the carrot will grow. You can discuss this with your children and share your own experiences. You may ask: Why do the adults had trouble believing that the carrot would grow? When you read the story, did your children think the carrot would grow? Did you ever have someone not believe you? How do you feel when others doubt things of which you are certain?

• The boy in the story does not speak, and we can only imagine what he is thinking and feeling as the others express their skepticism. If the boy could talk, how do you think he would respond? Together with your child you can select dolls to represent the boy, his parents and his brother. As you re-read the story, use the dolls to create a dialogue between the boy and his

• At the end of the story, the boy transports the carrot in a wheelbarrow. What do you think happens next? Where is he taking the carrot? How do the others respond when they see the giant carrot, and what does the boy do with it?

• The carrot grows under the ground, and not on the shelves of the grocery store! You can visit the supermarket or neighborhood grocery and take note of the various fruits and vegetables. What grows from a seed, like the carrot? What grows under the soil, and what blossoms on a tree? Which foods can be prepared from each fruit and vegetable, and what do we like in particular?

• Crockett Johnson’s illustrations depict the story that occurs above ground. You can suggest to your children that they draw a parallel story of the carrot, page after page, reflecting the process under the soil. In the end you will have two booklets illustrating the story “The Carrot Seed”: one of the boy and his family, and the  other – the story of the

• There are many delicious foods that can be prepared with carrots: carrot juice, carrot soup, carrot salad, carrot bread and more! Here is an easy recipe for sweet and delicious carrot salad: Ask your children to help peel and grate a few carrots into a bowl. Add a bit of lemon juice, sugar and a handful of raisins and mix together. You can serve your carrot salad to the whole family. Bon Appetite!
• “The Carrot Seed” demonstrates the great amount of patience and perseverance needed to grow vegetables. These traits are necessary to achieve many goals in life. You can share a personal story with your child of something you achieved with great effort and after a long wait, and tell them about the sense of satisfaction this

Family Activities

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

• Spend some time together examining Gad Shkedi’s illustrations. Notice the many different animals featured in the illustrations, alongside the trees. Compare the various trees: how many trees are mentioned in the story? Which are fruit trees, and which don’t bear any fruit? Did you notice that the end of the story is toldusing only illustrations? Tell the story in your own words.
• Do you perhaps have a favorite tree in your own yard, or near your home? Does your favorite tree have a “story”? You could take your children on a “tree tour” in your neighborhood. Can you spot any of the trees that appear in the story? Can you identify other types of trees? Compare the various trees you find: what is the benefit of each kind? Which trees are decorative, and which bear fruit? How do we know if a tree is young or old? You might pack this book, a blanket, and a light picnic, and read the story together in some lovely spot outdoors, under a tree. Then (if local environmental regulations allow) you could gather fallen pine-cones, bits of tree bark, leaves, etc., and use them to create a work of art when you get back home.
• In the story, Hannah wants to climb a tree “now,” and her father wants to rest “now.” For many families, this situation is all too familiar. How do you respond when there are conflicting desires in your family? You might discuss things we want immediately vs. things for which we must wait, along with the need to consider others’ wishes and to be patient.
• Trees provide us with an abundance of good things. You could go from room to room in your home and try to identify everything that comes from trees, for example: furniture made out of varying kinds of wood, olive oil that we use in cooking, maple syrup from the sap of the maple tree, wine and raisins harvested from grape vines, and so on.
• Do you know any other stories about trees (for example: the traditional tale of “Honi the Circle-Maker and the Carob Tree,” featured below; the poem “The Tree Man” by Shlomit Cohen-Assif; “Mr. Mini and the Apple Tree” by Orit Raz, or “What Do We Need For…” by Gianni Rodari)? Look for these books at home or at the library, and read them together.
• In Jewish tradition, it is customary to plant a tree to mark important milestones in one’s life. How does your family celebrate or remember important occasions and people? Does your family plant trees to mark a birth and/or other major occasions in your lives?
• Various Jewish source texts compare humans to trees. Talk with your children about your family’s roots, about the” seeds” you are planting for the future, about the different branches of your family, and so on. You might also draw your own family tree, from the grandparents’ generation down to your children’s generation.
• Just like trees, we humans also need a firm foundation in order to grow and flourish. After reading the story, you might have a conversation with your children about the things that matter most to you —your values, deeds, traditions, and beliefs—that strengthen the “foundation” of your family’s tree and support your collective growth.

Have fun reading and discussing this book!

Family Activities

• Share
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

You may want to look at the illustrations that accompany the story together, and notice the many details that are not specified in the text. What do you think of Bonny’s ideas and Pop’s inventions?

You could invent, plan and build your own “magnificent tree” using building blocks or Lego, or various objects around the house or yard. Are “all sorts of things jutting out” of your work too? Send us a picture of your magnificent tree, we’d be happy to post it on our website.

Bonny and Pop realized that birds were attracted to trees and looked for an idea that would encourage the birds to visit them. The story may inspire you to make a bird feeder together: rinse a large, empty bottle thoroughly, cut a large opening out on one end of it, hang it in the balcony or on a nearby tree, and fill it up with pieces of cut fruit, seeds and breadcrumbs. Follow the birds, watching quietly from afar as they approach the bird feeder and eat from it.

“Bonny and Pop always had lots of ideas…” Little children often have big ideas and original thoughts. You may want to tell your child about some important inventors, in Israel and around the world, and remind them that they too were once children, brimming with ideas. Together you could think of a situation in your own lives that you’d like to change, and make suggestions. Are your ideas implementable?

“Just as their faces are not identical to one another, so their opinions are not identical to one another” (according to the Midrash on the Book of Numbers, chapter 21): family members and friends do not always think or act the same way, and sometimes differences in style and character can bother us. You may want to remind each other of each of your family members’ special talent and inclinations, and make note of the unique contribution each one makes.

Does your child have a special connection with a grandparent, aunt or uncle, like Bonny does? You may want to sit your child down with a beloved family member and invite them to engage in an activity that requires cooperation, such as putting together a jigsaw puzzle, or even baking a cake. How well did they work together? Did they have similar ideas or different ones? Remember, none of this matters, as long as we have fun spending time together!