This is a read to for the younger set of 3 - 8's and a read with help for the 8

books:

	• The Tree Poachers : The Child's World Library Series Pierre Coran Child's World, 1991 - 32 pages average customer review:based on 1 review
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This is a read to for the younger set of 3 - 8's and a read with help for the 8 - 9s

This is a Charlock Halms adventure. Last Sunday the Ranger broke his leg. Since then some folks think they can do as they please. Charlock does not want to venture out unless he has to. To pass the time Charlock is numbering his homemade herbal teas.

Suddenly an alert is given, the cawing of Crow signals that Charlock is about to have company. Sam the squirrel comes forward with the news that since the Ranger is not able to out and about men are cutting the trees in his woods. There is already a huge stack of logs piled by the cave, and more trees are being cut. Sam and two other forest dwellers have appointed themselves to be a defense committee.

Charlock enlists the help of beavers during the night. By morning the woodcutters are coming back. Their mountain of cut logs are now a pile of matchsticks. From the cave comes an eerie figure having the feet of a rabbit and beak of a parrot. Behind the woodcutters truck a heron is busy letting air out of the tires. One look at the strange figure coming from the cave and The woodcutters waste no time leaving the forest.

The Tree Poachers is a book with a point. Written first in French the book has a distinctly -not United States- feel to it. It is a storybook in every sense of the word, presents a message and is child friendly despite the fact that it does not sugarcoat or present text in the sing song verbiage so prevalent in much of the works available for classroom and personal use today.

I like The Tree Poachers, and used it in my First Grade Class during this past term. Osage County First Graders enjoyed it as much as the others of the story books I read on a daily basis. The forty page book is replete with brightly colored, well drawn illustrations by artist Merel.

Charlock, a rabbit, along with the other characters are animals easily recognizable by children. The tale of woodcutters denuding the forest is one which is played out across the planet in varying forms. While we don't see it taking place here in Oklahoma ranch land, tall grass prairie I believe it is an important message for children to begin to receive and think bout as they grow up.

Osage County First Grade students chose the book often for free time and DEAR reading time. The book was brought on a regular basis by the day's leader as their choice for me to read to the group. And children took the book home overnight to read at home with parents and/or younger and older siblings.

In our classroom I have a number of potted plants including a ficus benjamina which the children find fascinating. A tree in the classroom. Our Mother's Day project is also our Science Fair project and is centered around plants. We carefully removed cuttings from -Mom-, a Syngonium with trailing tendrils, chop the cuttings into lengths and put them into bottles of water. Some bottles are amber - either beer or root beer bottles, and others are clear. We recycle, and we watch to see the roots form, and the algae in the clear bottles. The bottles are placed in the Science Fair, and then the cuttings are taken home for mom to plant and enjoy at home.

We discuss the cycle of air produced by plants, how plants clean the air we breathe and how important trees are to the production of the air covering our planet.

The Tree Poachers provides a nice lead in re how trees are useful for many things including producing the air all land dwellers must have.

Writer Coran has produced a credible work on the pages of The Tree Poachers. The book is part of a series of Charlock Halms books. The Tree Poachers has a place in the primary classroom, and will make a nice addition to the personal reading shelf of children. This is a read to for the younger set of 3 - 8's and a read with help for the 8 - 9s. Strong upper primary readers will read with little difficulty. Happy to recommend.

Molly Martin
Reviewer

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