Silver Medal winner 2016 Mom's Choice Awards. |
|
Second edition placed
third on the Gittle List of 2015s best indie picture books. |
|
 First
edition was voted second
best children's book in 2014 on Preditors and Editors. |
|
Book trailer
The Amida Tree is this generation's tree. It
will appeal to parents interested in a sustainable environment, healthy
emotional bonds, and a balanced life. Suitable for all ages.
Listen to the author read
the book
Gordon Korman on
The Amida Tree
“…This piece works so well… There’s beauty in
the simplicity of its telling, and the communication between the woman and the
tree is hauntingly believable.”
"The Amida Tree" written and illustrated by Bonnie Ferrante is the
author’s answer to "The Giving Tree." Ms. Ferrante explains it best in a
comment she wrote about the famous and beloved book by Shel Silverstein:
“As a teacher, seeing other teachers espouse The Giving Tree as a story
of love, I was appalled. Love doesn’t enable the other person to remain
emotionally stunted and environmentally destructive. When I retired, I
wrote an alternate story called 'The Amida Tree.' (Amida is the symbol
of Infinite Compassion and Eternal Wisdom.) To live a happy, fulfilled
life, both wisdom and compassion are needed in balance. The boy didn’t
live a happy life.”
I had never read "The Giving Tree" so I bought a copy. "The Amida Tree"
stands on its own as an important and captivating children’s book. But,
reading it in the context of the author’s comments, and in contrast to
Shel Silverstein’s book, made the experience deeper.
What a beautiful story!!!. It makes us realize that sometimes we don't
see the forest because of the trees. It tells the reader to see the
tinest details and appreciate all that we have every day.
To breathe and just be. It impowers all of us to stop and see what is
around in the world, including knowing we can all make a difference.
Loved the illustrations too.
By Andy
B
I really enjoyed this story. It teaches children to be creative and
resourceful with nature, bringing a different approach I had not seen
before in other children's books. Great job also with the pretty
drawings illustrating the book. Well done!
By Rob
Closson
This story is beautifully told and touches your soul. We all should
learn a deeper respect for nature and what it provides for us. What
better way than through the dreams and hopes of a child. i look forward
to reading this with my two young daughters.
A lovely and wise story about the earth's resources all around us, which
give life to ALL the living. A tree is life-giving, and this beautiful story
shows us that our ecosystem is vital and sustains us. A thoughtful book to
be read to children by their parents, and then discussed so that children
will begin to see the beauty and life that surrounds them.
Judith Addington, Author, The Big Little Book on Destiny
This is a sweetly written book about a life-long relationship between a
child and a tree. Author, Bonnie Ferrante, says she wrote it in response
to the Shel Silverstein book, "The Giving Tree," which Ferrante says has
it all wrong about love. Ferrante says love does not enable the other
person to remain emotionally stunted and environmentally destructive--
this a reference to the Silverstein book which has the tree sacrificing
itself for love of the boy who first neglects it and then takes
everything the tree has to give until the tree is nothing but a stump. I
did not know until I read her bio that Bonnie Ferrante is a Shin
Buddhist lay leader whose ideas about "infinite compassion and eternal
wisdom" don't necessarily sync with the Western tradition of
self-sacrificing love described by Shel Silverstein.
Sample pictures from The Amida Tree