Woodland is home to a wealth of wildlife. If we don't protect what we have left and work to create woodlands of the future, we stand to lose more than just trees. What about her decision to use a different language? ( The Saint of Incipient Insanities, which came out in 2004, was the first novel she wrote in English.) “I was constantly writing little pieces in English, but I kept them to myself. I had my voice in Turkish. But then there came a moment – I’d moved to America to be a professor – when I just took the plunge. It gave me such a sense of freedom. I still find it easier to express melancholy and longing in Turkish, but humour is definitely easier in English. We don’t have a word for irony in Turkish.” If your child is using Letters and Sounds, you can find this list of eBooks by Letters and Sounds Phases useful. Bear in mind the following: Learn about our range of Read with Oxford books and how they can help your child on their reading journey.

Tree Book The Stories, Science, and History of Trees - NHBS The Tree Book The Stories, Science, and History of Trees - NHBS

Her botanical reading, as her bibliography reveals, was extensive (Richard Mabey, Merlin Sheldrake, an academic article about the notion of “optimism” and “pessimism” in plants). In the novel, Kostas at one point buries his fig, the better to protect it from the British winter. “I’d heard that they could be buried,” says Shafak. “When I lived in Ann Arbor in Michigan, where it can be quite cold, I heard of Italian and Portuguese families doing this. I found out that it really works. You hide it safely beneath the ground for two months, and then, when the spring comes, you unbury it, and it’s a kind of miracle, because it’s alive.” Later, this unburying is mirrored by other, grimmer exhumations: those carried out by the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus, a bicommunal organisation that continues to try to find and identify the bodies of the civil war’s disappeared. Featuring 80 native and ornamental species, this book gives growing tips, facts, statistics and tree trivia and is illustrated throughout with photography and line drawings. Each tree is detailed with height, shape, fruit, leaves, flowers, bark and more. An ID guide and a practical handbook for growers.

Learning to read at school

Our Read with Oxford series features the much-loved characters who have been helping children learn to read for over 30 years. Trees and woods play a vital role in reducing flooding by slowing down the flow of rainwater, absorbing rainwater, and reducing erosion. Parents of children using Read Write Inc. Phonics may be interested in our home learning kits and flashcards: Read Write Inc. Phonics kits > As a heartbroken Kostas ineffectually circles his quiet teenager, Aunt Meryem arrives with two suitcases emblazoned with pictures of Marilyn Monroe and as many recipes as aphorisms, plaiting and replaiting her hair and never knowing when to mind her business. Every culture has an auntie like her. “‘Signs of the Apocalypse,’ mutters Meryem, turning off the TV. ‘It’s climate change,’ says Ada, without lifting her gaze from her phone.” She is a wonderful counterpoint to Ada’s teenage superiority, and the women eventually come to mirror each other in their vulnerability at a time of change. “‘I blame the menopause,’ says Meryem. ‘I was always tidy and organised … I don’t want to clean up any more.’” Tate Britain’s winter retrospective demonstrated Paul Nash’s extraordinary and enduring feeling for trees. His autobiography, Outline, works as a companion to his painting career, linking the beech tree in his special childhood place in Kensington Gardens to the mysterious group of beeches silhouetted on the hill at Wittenham Clumps, and then to the devastated, topless trunks in the first world war battlefields of northern France.

The Tree Book by DK | Waterstones

In Letters and Sounds, there are ‘sets’ within the Phases – so your child might not know all the sounds in every book within their Phase. At The Tree Council we are often asked for our recommendations of useful tree reference books and other tree guides. So, with Christmas on its way, we have put together a reading list of our top 12 books on tree identification, growing and care. We hope you find it useful! When your child is learning to read, they need to read books at the right level of challenge. If your child’s book is too hard, they will find it frustrating (and so will you) and might be put off reading. If their book is too easy, their reading won’t get any better. Your child will read a number of books at one level, band or colour before your child’s teacher will decide that they are ready to move on.

What are Book Bands?

Find more support and resources for Read Write Inc. in our parents' guide to Read Write Inc.> Looking for printed books for phonics practice at home? Published in association with The Tree Council, this book contains a wealth of essential information about native trees, including where different trees grow naturally, the insects, fungi and animals supported by them, the traditional beliefs connected to them, how they are managed and what products are obtained from them. Simply, a very useful book. They green our cities. They clean our air. They fight the effects of climate change. They even increase the value of our houses. Urban woods and trees do so much for people, wildlife and our economy. The Long, Long Life of Trees is written in praise of the physical beauty of trees and traces their cultural meanings. I worked on the principle that if I found something surprising, someone else probably would, too: what might be obvious to a botanist, a forester or local historian can still be a revelation to the rest of us.

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak review

I’ve always believed in inherited pain,” says Shafak. “It’s not scientific, perhaps, but things we cannot talk about easily within families do pass from one generation to the next, unspoken. In immigrant families, the older generation often wants to protect the younger from past sorrow, so they choose not to say much, and the second generation is too busy adapting, being part of the host country, to investigate. So it’s left to the third generation to dig into memory. I’ve met many third-generation immigrants who have older memories even than their parents. Their mothers and fathers tell them: ‘This is your home, forget about all that.’ But for them, identity matters.” Learn more about how to support your child if they are struggling with reading or reluctant to do so.You can also find some highlights from Oxford Children's books in our Books section: Oxford Children's Fiction >

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They

Help your child build their vocabulary and develop spelling skills with age-appropriate dictionaries from Oxford children's dictionaries. Children's fiction Is she hopeful for the future of Cyprus? For all the pain in her book, Kostas’s enduring fig tree suggests that she might be. “I want to feel optimistic,” she says, softly. “The Committee on Missing Persons is so valuable. Many of those involved with it are women, and these young volunteers give me hope. But, of course, politicians are a different matter. That’s more complicated.” Right on cue, the two small children at the table next to us begin screaming like banshees.A useful book that covers all the most common trees and some rarities that are sold from nurseries and garden centres in the UK and also includes information about cultivation and size. Schools who are registered with Oxford Owl can provide pupils with access to an additional 30 Oxford Primary eBooks, plus a separate library of 50 Read Write Inc. titles all for free using a class login associated with their Oxford Owl for School.