The Name of the Tree

I want to share a heartwarming story with you. It's about a little boy in 2nd grade who was just recently diagnosed with cancer. His name is Taten. My friend Jennifer at Runde's Room is having a sale today in her TPT store and she will be donating all the money to Taten's family. Jennifer has awesome products, so if you need anything,  head over to her TPT store and support this sweet boy and his family. You can read more about Taten's story here

Tomorrow is Earth Day, are you ready for it? In case you missed my Earth Day freebie, you can grab it again by clicking on the pic below.

But, I also wanted to share with you an amazing story that can be read any day, but it seems more fitting for tomorrow. 

The Name of the Tree. It is up there in my top 10 and here is why. For one, it is so beautiful, both for the illustrations and the story itself. It is set in Africa and is about a group of animals who set out to find food, during a drought. They discover a tree with lovely, colourful fruit on it, but they cannot reach the fruit until they figure out the name of the tree. And it is only the Lion who knows the name. So, the animals take turns going to see the lion to know the name of the tree, but they end up forgetting it on the journey back. It is the turtle, who perseveres and saves the day returning to tell the other animals that the name of the tree is Ungalli. And so they are saved. My kids walk around chanting Ungalli, Ungalli, the name of the tree is Ungailli after I've read it to them.

You just feel good reading this story to your kids, it has such a hopeful message. I also love it cause my mentor teacher, at my school, introduced it to me. She has read it to her class every year all the time she's been teaching. She retired a few years ago and we put together a little farewell video for her. It was students and teachers sharing their memories of her over the years. And the class that was graduating that year (cause my school is also a High School) appeared in the video one by one and each one of them told her how much they loved the stories she had read to them all those years ago and that they all still remembered that the name of the tree was Ungali. It was heart wrenching, it really was. So, if you can get your hands on it, not just for Earth Day, but anytime, it is worth it.

I wish you a Happy Earth Day!