Macmillan Children’s Books has picked up two picture books by Sir Michael Morpurgo and illustrated by Yuval Zommer, starting with the ‘thought-provoking’ my heart was a tree.
Associate editor Penny Morris acquired worldwide rights to Veronique Baxter’s text at David Higham Associates and Zommer’s illustrations were acquired through Caroline Sheldon of the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency. my heart was a tree will appear in the spring of 2023.
“This book was pure joy to work with, combining as it does two of my passions: poetry, by one of our greatest writers, and trees,” Zommer said. “Trees have always been an integral part of my childhood. I was the child who used to climb trees, pick fruit directly from trees, play and read under the shelter of trees. To this day, when I look at the veins of a tree leaf, I remember our intrinsic connection to nature.
The title of the picture book is taken from Ted Hughes’ poem “My Own True Family” and is used with permission from Hughes’ widow. my heart was a tree is a collection of “beautifully layered, thought-provoking and imaginative” poems and short stories about trees, showing their lives and those of the animals around them. With a strong theme of conservation, Morpurgo recounts ancient tales such as Odysseus’ return to Penelope told by an olive tree, the autobiography of a chair, a journey from an acorn to a mighty oak tree to part of a ship and a “poetic call from the earth four trillion trees, asking humanity to understand how vitally important trees are to our survival”.
Morris commented, “Working on this book with Michael and Yuval has been an absolute dream – their passion for the subject shines through on every page of this wonderful book and I’m thrilled to have it on my list.”
Morpurgo added: “The poems and stories in this book were written because, every day that I can, I go for a walk in the bluebell woods behind our house. I know every tree I come across. They hear me coming, they listen to me. I listen to them, their whispers, their roars, their creaks. There is one poem for me among all the others that speaks more powerfully about trees than any other I know: “My Own True Family” by Ted Hughes. The great poet who wrote it crossed my woods of bellflowers, touched the same trees, listened to them, wrote for them. It was his spirit and his great poem about trees that held my hand when I started writing this book.