The Hugging Tree: A Story about Resilience

4/5 ( ratings)

Finalist, Green Earth Book Awards

Selected for the New York Botanical Garden's LuEsther T. Mertz Library

Included in Wordcrate's resilience activity boxTrees hold us fast in their embrace. The Hugging Tree is about a tree that, in spite of harsh circumstances, grows until it can hold and shelter others. It is about each one of us.
On a bleak and lonely rock
By a vast and mighty sea
Grew a lonely little tree
Where no tree should ever be.
Alone on a mighty cliff by the sea, a tiny tree struggles to grow and thrive. She is nurtured by the sea, sun and moon, and becomes home to a family of loons. But winter ice storms and bitter cold break her boughs and roots. Will she survive? Find out how the hugging tree grows until she can hold and shelter others.

Even though childhood can be a wondrous and carefree time, children must deal with difficulties as they grow. Those range from minor disappointments like losing a game, arguing with a friend or sibling, earning a poor grade...to significant blows such as the death of a parent or loved one, abuse, or neglect.

Through all her troubles, the Hugging Tree holds fast. Sustained by the natural world and the kindness and compassion of one little boy, the tree grows and grows until it can hold and shelter others under its immense green canopy. Every day, people of all ages come to rest and sit under the tree.

The resilience of the Hugging Tree calls to mind the potential in all of us: to thrive, despite times of struggle and difficulty. To nurture the little spark of hope and resolve. To dream and to grow, just where we are.

Psychologists use the term resilience to describe an individual's ability to adapt successfully to challenging events. Reading this book with your child can be a way to teach resilience, self-confidence, and self-control and help you discuss challenges your child may be facing at home or school. This book has been used as an inspiration and teaching tool by teachers, librarians, pastors, rabbis, and parents around the world. There are more than two dozen read-a-louds of the book available on You Tube. Children enjoy making their own drawings of hugging trees, with words like "love" and "perseverance" alongside the branches. They enjoy outdoor read-a-louds accompanied by hugging and being hugged by trees.

A "Note to Parents" by Elizabeth McCallum, PhD, provides information about resilience, and guidelines for building resilience in children. A free, downloadable teacher and parent guide with many activities is available on the publisher's website, as well as on the author's website.