TITLE: The Great Kapok Tree GRADE LEVEL: 5 AUTHOR: Lynne Cherry THEMES: Communication, listening, understanding feelings, conflict causes, nonviolent alternatives, perspective taking, win/win situation, win/lose situation SYNOPSIS: In the dense, green Amazon rain forest, a man is chopping down a great Kapok tree. The animals who live among its leaves and branches watch him silently. Hot and weary, the man lies down to rest at the foot of the tree and falls asleep. Then, one by one, the forest creatures emerge to whisper in his ear. They beg him not to destroy their home and tell him how important every tree is in the rain forest. An anteater reminds the man, "What happens tomorrow depends on what you do today." Finally, a Yanomamo child of the rain forest pleads, "When you awake, please look upon us all with new eyes." The man wakes up with a start. All around him are monkeys, tree porcupines, frogs, bees, butterflies, anteaters, birds of many colors, a jaguar, and a three-toed sloth. Their whispers echo in his ears. The man and the other creatures stare silently at one another, and then he makes his decision. QUESTIONS: Q. What was the conflict that the animals and the man had to deal with? A. The man came to cut down the Great Kapok tree. It was home to the animals. Q. What method did the animals use to convince the man to save the tree? A. One by one they whispered to him while he was asleep, telling him of the importance of the tree. Q. Is this violent or nonviolent? A. Nonviolent. Q. What advice did the different animals offer the man? A. Answers will vary. Q. If you were an animal in this rain forest, what would you say to the man to try to save the trees? A. Answers will vary. Q. Why is the Kapok Tree important to human lives? A. Answers might include that it is the home to many animals, and that the oxygen it produces is important for all life. Q. Is the destruction of a tree a form of violence? Why? A. Answers will vary. Q. Is the destruction of beauty a form of violence? Why? Q. What did the child from the Yanamamo Tribe say to the man? A. "When you awake, please look upon us all with new eyes." Q. How would you have told the man your feelings? What would you say? A. Answers will vary. Q. When the man awoke what did he see? A. The boy and all the animals, and, above him, the beautiful plants suspended from the great Kapok tree. Q. How did the man choose to act? What did he do? A. He picked up his ax as if to strike the tree, looked at the boy and the animals, dropped the ax and walked out of the forest. Q. Did the two parties create a win/win situation? Why? or Why not? A. The animals saved the tree and the man came to a new appreciation of life and beauty. Q. If you were the man what would you choose to do? A. Answers will vary.
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