Branching Out
by Joan Marie Galat

I love spending time in forest habitat. The air is fresh, animals signs are everywhere, and the world feels like a quieter place. My interest in these giants of the plant world led me to write a book for ages 8-12 that explores how people and animals depend on trees. Branching Out: How Trees are Part of Our World (Owlkids) is full of surprising facts about trees, but it is just as much a book about the animals (even fish!) who use them for food and shelter.

India’s national tree—the banyan (Ficus benghalensis)—is one of eleven featured species. This tree is an evergreen with roots that grow in the air toward the ground, where they eventually anchor. They look beautiful but are also deadly. The new trunks will one day strangle the original tree.

A banyan's aerial roots may be used to make rope, tent poles, and cart yokes. Its leaves can serve as handy plates and its twigs make good toothpicks! People also harvest banyan wood and bark to create paper and the tree's sap to make rubber.  

A banyan tree will produce figs throughout the year. This species often serves as a meeting place, thanks to the shade it produces. One of my favorite things about banyan trees is that their many leaves help reduce air and noise pollution. 

Watch the Branching Out book trailer to discover more about how trees are part of our world!

 

Joan reading in a spruce tree.

Upper right: banyan tree

Firing the Confetti Cannons!

by L. E. Carmichael

Several members of the Sci-Why blogging team are celebrating big news, so we thought we'd bring the celebration to you. Join us as we pour umbrella drinks and dance in a rain of glitter!

L. E. Carmichael's book FUZZY FORENSICS: DNA FINGERPRINTING GETS WILD has been shortlisted for the 2014 Lane Anderson Award, along with Daniel Loxton's PLESIOSAUR PERIL and Maria Birmingham's TASTES LIKE MUSIC; 17 QUIRKS OF THE BRAIN AND BODY. The winner will be announced later in September.

Joan Marie Galat's book BRANCHING OUT: HOW TREES ARE PART OF OUR WORLD just won the 2015 Santa Monica Public Library Green Prize for Sustainable Literature Award. Check out the trailer for the book here. Joan's next book, DARK MATTERS; NATURE'S REACTION TO LIGHT POLLUTION is coming out next year, but she's already talking it up on CBC.

Paula Johanson put her research skills to work writing KING KWONG, a biography of Canadian hockey player Larry Kwong. She found hockey statistics available online for every professional league in North America! King Kwong was reviewed on page 3 of the Vancouver Sun by Stephen Hume. As he says in his August 5 column: B.C. writer and self-described lifelong hockey fan Paula Johanson reminds us of the ephemeral nature of sports history in King Kwong, her marvellous little biography of the whirlwind on skates who blew out of the dusty interior 75 years ago.

Shar Levine will receive an Alumni Honour Award from the University of Alberta Alumni Association for her contributions to children's literature and science education. There will be a free ceremony with reception to follow at 7 pm, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015 Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium (11455 87 Ave), Edmonton Alberta. For info and tickets, click here.

Five Rivers launched Marie Powell's young adult historical fantasy HAWK at When Words Collide in August. The first review is 5-star, calling it "a spell-binding, riveting YA historical fiction alive with character, conflict and action. Definitely a blow-your-mind debut novel."

Jan Thornhill's latest book KYLE GOES ALONE has just been released! Kyle has to go. There’s just one problem: as a young three-toed sloth, he lives high in the rainforest canopy with his mom, and it’s a LONG way down to the forest floor. Like other sloths, Kyle only goes down to the ground once a week when he has to do his “business.” And he’s never made the journey by himself before.

Kyle’s mom says he’s old enough to go alone, but Kyle isn’t sure he’s ready. It’s so far! And won’t it be lonely? Unfortunately, he doesn’t have much time to decide. Check it out!

Gifts from the Golden Wattle - chewing gum, pom-pom flowers, and glue

by Joan Marie Galat

The golden wattle (Acacia pycantha) is the most widespread of all Australian plants and one of more than 900 species of wattle in the country. An evergreen, it may grow as a bushy shrub up to 16 feet (5 meters) high and sport a multitude of slightly droopy branches, or grow as a tree with a single trunk up to 32 feet (10 meters) high. 

As a seedling, golden wattles grow tough, water-saving leaves that help it survive Australia’s dry regions. But adult trees do not have true leaves. Instead, they grow shiny flattened leaf stalks without blades. These blades, called phyllodes, do the work of leaves.

When the tree is three years old, flowers erupt, looking like clusters of fluffy gold pompoms. Each flower head contains up to eighty tiny sweet-smelling blossoms. 

After pollination, flowers form pods that look like long, green string beans. 

Under the hot Australian sun, pods turn dark brown as they mature and split open on one side to release their seeds. These remarkable seeds can still sprout after spending decades in the soil, and trees often appear soon after a bushfire because heat enables the seeds to germinate.

Golden Wattle Chewing Gum

Long before you could buy chewing gum at a store and well before British settlers arrived in Australia, Aborigine people ate gum. Where did they get it? From the sap that oozed out of golden wattle trees. They made notches in the bark to collect gum more easily and ensure a regular supply. They also found the gooey sap could be used as an adhesive and mixed it with other ingredients to make objects stick together. 

Sugar gliders like the gum too. They make golden wattle sap flow by chewing holes into tree trunks and branches. The tree produces gum to heal the injury and the sugar glider gets a tasty snack. Sugar gliders also eat golden wattle seeds before they ripen.

In Australia, September 1 marks the first day of spring and National Wattle Day—a special time to honor the spirit and resilience of Australian people. With bright yellow flowers and deep green leaves, the famous golden wattle’s image adorns Australia’s coat of arms, postage stamps, and awards of merit.

You can discover how people, animals, and the planet needs 11 different species of trees from across the globe in Branching Out - How trees are part of Our World published by Owlkids. Watch this 62 second book trailer for details.