Our 2024 Giverny Award winner introduces us to a Douglas fir sapling and her forest to reveal the interconnectedness of trees and fungi in the Wood Wide Web. Colorful illustrations accompany the story and showcase the diversity of trees and animals living within the forest, including the fungal network and animals that live below the surface. 

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Readers are introduced to the main character, Little Tree, shortly after she sprouted. Little Tree cannot reach the sunlight because the larger trees block light from the forest floor. When it doesn’t rain, Little Tree is in trouble! She cries out, pushing her sadness through her roots and to a fungal network that connects the entire forest. Little Tree’s message on the Wood Wide Web reaches an elegant paper birch, who generously sends some spare energy and water through her roots. Although some of Paper Birch’s sugar and water are sucked up by other trees along the Wood Wide Web, enough reaches Little Tree to help her survive the dry summer—with enough sugar left over to help feed the fungal network. Little Tree grows and makes her first pinecone.

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When winter comes, Little Tree keeps her leaves and continues to thrive. Paper Birch, though, loses her leaves and needs extra sugar. Paper Birch cries out and her message is carried through the fungal network of the Wood Wide Web. Little Tree sends sugar to Paper Birch throughout the winter. Both trees survive and grow. 

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Little Tree and the Wood Wide Web addresses several science concepts, including tree life cycles, differences between evergreen and deciduous trees, forest ecosystems, and the fungal network below the forest floor that connects all trees in the forest. 

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Our 2024 Giverny book was written by Lucy Brownridge, a London-based editor and children’s author. Her books focus on the history of art, animals and science, and history. Her award-winning books have been translated into more than 20 languages.  

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Hannah Abbo, the illustrator, currently resides in Portugal. She is a self-taught artist who also enjoys making ceramics, baking bread, and visiting botanical gardens. She described illustration as her passion, from notebook doodles to 10-foot billboards. 

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We think our youngest readers will enjoy Little Tree and the Wood Wide Web as they learn about the individuality of trees along with the interconnectedness of the forest within the Wood Wide Web. Lucy Brownridge develops individual characters in the fungi, Little Tree, and Paper Birch, and Abbo reflects these differences through different shapes, textures, and colors. Children will likely discover hidden treasures each time they read the book—from worms to burrowing moles to buried bones—and these discoveries can expand learning with ecological conversations about subterranean dwellers and decomposers. Importantly, this story calls our attention to organisms often overlooked in our environment—plants and fungi.