The Wisdom of the Trees: Ryan's Gift

By Joani Braun, Kenn Yapsangco and Sharon Shier

Book summary

The Wisdom of the Trees is really two sides of a coin in its intent. It was inspired by an experience that I had while helping some friends make maple syrup. They had a magnificent maple forest and invited my husband and I to help them tap the trees.

Since Im an avid maple syrup lover and had been curious about the actual process of taking it from the trees through its transformation into something so delicious and precious that it has become costly to buy, I was excited to join in the fun and learn about the process too.

Because my experience with the trees during this tapping was so mind boggling to me, I wanted to share it with children while they are young enough to incorporate a deeper appreciation of nature and gratitude for what nature provides into their viewpoints. The sharing came out in the form of a childrens fiction story based on my actual experience.

In the story, my main character is a young, pre-teen aged boy named Ryan. His family, including a younger sister and several pets, has just moved from a city life into the country, and Ryan is not doing well. His unhappiness with the move affects everyone around him, with his parents worrying that they have made a mistake in thinking the move would be good for all of them. To make matters worse for Ryan, his sister is blissfully happy, while he mopes about wishing he were back with his friends and at his old school.

The crux of the story occurs when the family decides on an outing to help out at a maple tree farm, and Ryan reluctantly accompanies them. During their time on the farm, surprising events occur that result in a powerful shift in Ryans attitude, transforming his outlook and giving him a new sense of purpose. Since the experience itself was real, the liberties I took were in creating a character who reflected me at that age and what I wished might have happened to me.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 24, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483610337

Joani Braun

Author bio: Sharon Huxford has always been fascinated by the wonders in nature, sometimes sitting for hours watching a river flow, clouds shaping and re-shaping overhead, and trees with their leaves shimmering and blowing in the wind. She splits her time living on a lake in a small town in northern Michigan and during winter months she lives aboard a 50-foot trawler off an island in southern Florida. The boat is named Moonglow. Her husband Alex is a licensed sea captain. This is Sharon’s second book about nature and the impact it can have on our lives when we take a moment to appreciate what is being given to us. Sharon has 5 grandchildren; the oldest, Ryan, previewed the story for her and helped her see ways she might make it more appealing to someone his age.

Book preview

124820-HUXF-PBint-LSI.pdf

Sharon Shier

Illustrations by Joani Braun and Kenn Yapsangco

Cover by Joani Braun

Copyright © 2013 by Sharon Shier. 124820-HUXF

Library of Congress Control Number:   2013904844

ISBN:   Softcover     978-1-4836-1031-3

            Hardcover   978-1-4836-1032-0

            Ebook         978-1-4836-1033-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 06/19/2013

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Acknowledgments

W ere it not for my friend Joani Braun graciously inviting me to help tap the maple trees at her brother’s farm, my personal experience with the trees would likely not have happened. Fortunately, in life, it seems we are often presented with just the opportunity we need to learn an important lesson.

So thank you Joani for inspiring me with your heartfelt appreciation of all that is natural, including the road kill that you so compassionately portray in your artwork. And for the beautiful cover and illustrations you provided for this book.

Also I want to express my deepest gratitude to Brenda Morgan for giving me the nudge to express what I Feel in words that can be shared with others.

Thank you to my husband Alex who always cheers me on, proof reads my stories and gives encouragement by loving what I write even when I doubt myself.

And thanks to my dear friend Dottie for her diligence in both proofreading and gently making suggestions that helped me bring a greater continuity and readability to the story.

And lastly, thank you to all you wonderful maple trees who faithfully give your sap year after year so we can partake in the joy of having pure maple syrup to sweeten our lives and our pancakes. There is nothing quite like the taste of that nectar.

Chapter 1

O nce upon a recent time, there was a young boy named Ryan who lived with his parents, Rob and Karla, his younger sister, his two dogs, Champ and Greta, a black and white cat named Yin-Yang and 3 hamsters; Mo, Joe and Curley, named by his father who was a 3 Stooges fan.

Over the past winter Ryan’s family had moved. They left their home in the suburbs of a busy city where Ryan had lived all his life. The move to a small town 2 hours away from all his friends had been hard for him. He had just begun middle school before they moved. He and his friends were big shots in their elementary school. Now, as 6th graders, they were at the bottom of the pecking order again, but at least he had friends in every class.

Then suddenly, his father had this ‘great job opportunity’ and his parents decided to move to a small town. They acted all excited about it, trying to make Ryan think it would be a wonderful adventure living closer to nature. But Ryan resented the move, even asked if he could go live with his best friend Jack. His parents were surprised at the extent of his resistance; they asked him to give it a try. He had become withdrawn and sullen instead, and to make matters worse, he was having difficulty making friends at school.

This community was so different from his old neighborhood. The school was small and most everyone knew each other from grade school. He felt so alone as he never had before, without a friend to talk to. His parents were concerned. Perhaps they shouldn’t have moved.

Ryan’s 10 year-old sister, Rachel, on the other hand, was excited about their move. She acted as though it was the best thing that ever happened to her. She loved her new bedroom, her teacher, the kids in her classroom and best of all she loved the girl who lived next door. They were always playing together now while Ryan moped around the house and missed his friends and his old school.

At night, when Ryan and Rachel were asleep, the parents whispered between themselves. He’s so unhappy, Ryan’s mom, Karla, would say. "What