One Tree by Christopher Cheng and Bruce Whatley

One Tree by Christopher Cheng and Bruce Whatley

All cities were once places of natural life – green trees, animals homes and freshly turned soil.

But many of these green places are not these places anymore. They are filled with people and buildings and grey.

One Tree by Christopher Cheng and Bruce Whatley explores the concept of loss through the eyes of a small boy who lives in a busy city in Asia.

He watches his grandfather who seems to be slipping away amongst the cityscape devoid of stories and smiles.

Until one day, the small boy finds a little plant growing in the crack on the busy pavement.

The finding of this plant leads to not only lessons on balcony horticulture, it also teaches him how important living things are.

As the plant grows so does his grandfathers joy and lust for life. And as this grows, the bond between grandfather and boy strengthens.

The plant brings life back to his small city apartment in many more ways than you can imagine – you’ll just have to read to find out how!

Bruce Whatley’s illustrations match in perfectly with this story, bringing the feel of the Chinese culture to life – merging the old stories and life of grandpa with the new stories the young boy brings along.

One Tree is a pertinent book for our time. We need to remember the beauty of storytelling. We need to remember the beauty of nature and we need to remember the beauty of community.

So what else can you do with this book?

STEAM/STEM/Sustainability/Geography!

Explore buildings in your city that have been ‘greened’ Look at how they are designed to bring nature back into the city landscape.

Redesign some aspects of your house and bedroom so it can have some natural life in it.

Explore cities that have had total transformation – how can other cities replicate this?

Testimonials – Jack and Jill Kindergarten, Berowra.

Testimonials - Jack and Jill Kindergarten, Berowra.

Thanks so much Vanessa for coming out and sharing your book “The Bee Detectives” with our children 3-5 years old. The experience allowed them to learn so much more about Bees. We have had our native Bees for several years and had beekeepers out before. Your book took an in-depth look into classification, different ways they live, how they collect pollen and make honey.  It created lots of meaningful conversation with the children; your interactive book reading allowed them to share these ideas with each other. The extended activity afterwards of the magnifiers provided by Vanessa was a great extension to the book. The children were so excited to be their very own Bee detectives and really extended their learning.

Vanessa Ryan-Rendall
2021-05-17T03:33:47+00:00

Testimonials - Jack and Jill Kindergarten, Berowra. Thanks so much Vanessa for coming out and sharing your book “The Bee Detectives” with our children 3-5 years old. The experience allowed them to learn so much more about Bees. We have had our native Bees for several years and had beekeepers out before. Your book took an in-depth look into classification, different ways they live, how they collect pollen and make honey.  It created lots of meaningful conversation with the children; your interactive book reading allowed them to share these ideas with each other. The extended activity afterwards of the magnifiers provided by Vanessa was a great extension to the book. The children were so excited to be their very own Bee detectives and really extended their learning.

Author Visit: Jack and Jill Kindergarten Berowra

Thanks so much Vanessa for coming out and sharing your book “The Bee Detectives” with our children 3-5 years old. The experience allowed them to learn so much more about Bees. We have had our native Bees for several years and had beekeepers out before. Your book took an in-depth look into classification, different ways they live, how they collect pollen and make honey.  It created lots of meaningful conversation with the children; your interactive book reading allowed them to share these ideas with each other. The extended activity afterwards of the magnifiers provided by Vanessa was a great extension to the book. The children were so excited to be their very own Bee detectives and really extended their learning. 

Teacher notes written by Vanessa
2021-04-21T02:54:08+00:00

Thanks so much Vanessa for coming out and sharing your book “The Bee Detectives” with our children 3-5 years old. The experience allowed them to learn so much more about Bees. We have had our native Bees for several years and had beekeepers out before. Your book took an in-depth look into classification, different ways they live, how they collect pollen and make honey.  It created lots of meaningful conversation with the children; your interactive book reading allowed them to share these ideas with each other. The extended activity afterwards of the magnifiers provided by Vanessa was a great extension to the book. The children were so excited to be their very own Bee detectives and really extended their learning. 


Georgie Donaghey

I was impressed with Vanessa’s professionalism in preparing the teacher notes for my picture book, In the Shadow of an Elephant. Her depth of knowledge on the multitude of topics covered was just incredible! She has compiled a 15-page document that will allow Educators and students an opportunity to explore conversations and discover different layers within the book.

Georgie Donaghey

Teacher notes written by Vanessa
2020-08-01T07:42:45+00:00

I was impressed with Vanessa’s professionalism in preparing the teacher notes for my picture book, In the Shadow of an Elephant. Her depth of knowledge on the multitude of topics covered was just incredible! She has compiled a 15-page document that will allow Educators and students an opportunity to explore conversations and discover different layers within the book. Georgie Donaghey