Book Review: The Secret Life of the Forest

Trees are an essential part of nature, both for the oxygen they produce and the habitats they provide to animals. But if you don’t live near a forest you might not think about all that happens within them very much.

The Secret Life of the Forest: Trees, Animals and Fungi, by Klára Holik, Ivi Niesner and Jana Sedlácková explores the inner workings of the forest, from the biggest trees to the smallest parasites, answering questions about the forest and sharing basic information about different kinds of forests, the water cycle, how to visit the forest and more. It’s aimed at kids ages 6 to 9.

It starts at the beginning with information on where seeds come from, how pollination happens and different creatures (and mechanisms like wind) that help move tree seeds and other seeds around in different forests. It talks about photosynthesis, how trees communicate with each other, tree rings, layers of the forest, how tree seeds move and how fungi and trees help each other.

Readers will learn about the oldest known fungus in the world, how ants help other animals to reproduce and what plant and animal parasites make trouble in the forest.

The book also covers decomposition, an overview of forest types from around the world (including the heaviest living organism), how fire affects forests, animals of the rainforest and swamp and ways people use wood.

Information is presented in bite-sized segments, with cartoony illustrations that are somewhat accurate to nature. You can check out some of the pages and watch a flip through on the publisher’s website.

It also includes forest experiments kids can try, such as building bird houses, looking for springs and checking ingredients on snack foods for palm oil, which comes from the rainforest. There’s also information on the best way to visit the forest to be respectful of the organisms that live there.

In the back you’ll find a glossary of some of the important words included in the book, and there’s a QR code teachers or parents can scan to get more information or learning resources.

This book provides a nice overview of life in the forest and how the plants and animals work together to keep it growing the way it needs to. It also covers a little bit of what humans can do to protect the forests we have left.

About the book: 64 pages, hardcover. Published 2024 by Albatross Books. Suggested retail price $18.95

When my daughter was younger I would spend a lot of time trying to come up with activities she could do in the car on long road trips and things to entertain her when we were waiting at restaurants and things that didn’t involve screens.

But it turns out there are a lot of great activities you can do with just a piece of paper and a pen.

What Do We Do All Day has a great collection of pen and paper games, including some that can be done with just one person, though they’re all more fun if you have at least two.

There are some classics on here like hangman and dots and boxes, but there are also quite a few I hadn’t heard of before.

I don’t want to spoil the whole list for you because you should definitely click over there and look around, but I will share about the one that you see pictured above.

This game is called Bridges, and you start by making the big random shape and the dividing it into a bunch of sections (the post says 30-50 sections is ideal but I think this one is smaller than that).

Each player gets their own color marker and you take turns drawing bridges from one space to another, crossing a third. Once there’s a bridge, no other bridges can start, end or cross in those spaces. Keep going until no more bridges can be built, and the person who makes the last bridge wins.

Check out the post over at What We Do All Day for more great ideas for no or almost-no prep games you can play with your kids or that kids can play together. I’d love to know if you have a favorite paper and pen game, whether it’s on this list or a different one.

[Photo: What We Do All Day]

Have you read?

Leave a Reply