Written by Jan Peck · Illustrated by Valeria Petrone
Climb into the treetops with a gentle, singsong rhyme! A curious child looks and listens way up high and meets friendly rainforest canopy animals—then ends with a cozy good-night. Perfect for preschool and early readers.
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About the Book
From rustling leaves to bright birds and sleepy creatures, this rhythmic read-aloud invites children to notice sights and sounds high in a tall green tree. Page by page, young readers greet canopy animals, repeat bouncy refrains, and count along—until it’s time to whisper goodnight.
Great for: circle time, rhyme and rhythm practice, counting to 10, animal habitats, and calm-down / bedtime reads.
Peek Inside
• Repeating lines kids can chant together (“Way up high… what do I see?”)
• Friendly rainforest animals (think bright birds, kinkajous, frogs, sloths) with simple shapes for easy pointing and naming
• A gentle, sleepy ending
Teacher tip: Use call-and-response—teacher reads the setup, children echo the refrain.
What Grown-Ups Say
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 1–Readers join a young girl for a rollicking climb up a tall green tree as she spies a variety of rainforest animals, from the well-known parrot to the exotic kinkajou. She greets each animal in turn, then says, See you later and climbs away. The repetitive, rhyming text invites young children to read along, as do the playful phrases like Yakity-yak, parrot and S-l-o-w M-o, hairy sloth. Bold, colorful, digitally rendered art captures the girl’s adventure and the creative use of perspective emphasizes the googly eyes of the tree frog and the long, slithery body of the boa. In the end, the child says Nighty-night to each creature, then climbs down to meet her daddy, as the tall green tree transforms into a bunk bed strewn with plush-toy animals. This book is similar to Peck’s Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea (S & S, 2004), in which a boy explores the ocean inside his bathtub. Green Tree promises to be a solid hit for storytimes and bedtime reading.–Suzanne Myers Harold, Multnomah County Library System, Portland, OR
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• “A soothing, rhythmic read with animal surprises and a cozy finish.”
• “Perfect pacing for preschool story time and bedtime.”
Activities & Printables
• Click here for a Color & Count: Canopy Animals Sheet
• Click here for Fun Facts about the Animals
• Move Like the Animals! — flap like a bird, hang like a kinkajou (pretend!), stretch like a sloth
• Sound Hunt — students guess the animal from a sound word (croak, chatter, rustle)
Storytime Guide (quick)
Before reading: Look at the cover. “What animals might live way up high?”
During: Echo the repeating phrase; count animals together.
After: Turn-and-talk—Which canopy animal would you visit? Why?