Adults often talk about the need to cultivate and nurture curiosity and wonder towards nature in children but often find it hard to convey in words. This book beautifully and poetically captures the aforementioned. In subtle ways the text and visuals also present a view of nature which appears to value various life forms equally- the tree, the human onlooker and other creatures which thrive on the tree.

Let me begin by saying that I read this book thrice and each time I read it aloud to myself. The sound of the words and text on a whole felt like dewdrops on bright green blades of grass. It was sheer poetry! In telling about the Saptaparni tree what Sushil Shukla conveys best is the feeling of wonder and curiosity towards nature, which we adults so often wish to cultivate and nurture in our children but find hard to convey through words even to ourselves. The author’s words speak of the world of this tree through the eyes of a mesmerised onlooker; its busyness and its interaction with other natural elements such as breeze and sunlight. In a subtle way the text presents a view of nature which seems to value all life forms equally - the tree, the onlooker and the hundreds of creatures that thrive on it, and never once raises the usefulness question.