Summary
Helen Ward's picture book follows an old man who lives in a junkyard and dreams of a beautiful forest. When he builds one from tin, real birds and animals are drawn to it — and his tin forest gradually becomes a living one.
Viewer safety
All ages
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Discussion
An old man transforms a bleak junkyard into a real living forest through imagination and care.
- Why can't the old man have a real forest at first?
- How does the tin forest attract real animals?
- What does this story suggest about the relationship between human creativity and nature?
- What is one thing you could do to create more habitat for animals near your home?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: habitat, imagination, restore, ecosystem, persistence.
Try it: Draw the junkyard at the beginning and the forest at the end. Write one sentence explaining what changed and what caused the change.