When Beauty, the liquid amber tree, pushes her head out of the warm earth, her mother is filled with pride when she sees her young sapling. As she grows, she experiences the changing seasons, watches her leaves change colour, and loses her leaves to face the cold winter. When spring arrives and new leaves sprout on her now long branches, the birds nest and lay their eggs amongst her leaves.

But one day, fire charges up the valley and Beauty watches in fear as the long fingers of fire burn the trees and grasses as the flames come ever closer toward her and her mother. Suddenly a fire truck arrives and the firemen put out the fire before it reaches them. Her rescuers sit in the shade of her branches to enjoy a refreshing drink of water.

Beauty is so happy that her mother and she are saved. What’s in store next for these two survivors of nature?

Beauty is a tree. We first meet her as a little sapling, just sprouting from the earth. Over the year, through different seasons, Beauty grows and transforms into a beautiful little tree.

Stood in the shade of her mother, as the seasons make her lose her leaves in winter, and spring brings the birds to nest, Beauty is loving life.

One day smoke starts to roll in towards Beauty and her mother. They quickly realise that the forest is on fire. What will happen to them?

Beauty is a lovely young children’s book, that not only provides an enjoyable story, but provides education too, about the life cycle of trees.

I love the bold, colourful, exquisitely drawn illustrations. They bring life to the story, and perfectly capture the emotions of the trees.

Beauty is a fantastic gem of a book that children will surely enjoy from cover to cover. I can see it becoming a favourite bedtime read.

C.D. Nichols is a retired high school teacher’s aide. She grew up in Guildford, New South Wales, Australia, and after marriage settled in South Penrith, New South Wales, located at the base of the Blue Mountains. This story was inspired by a drive one early autumn day to Mount Wilson, a small hamlet in the Blue Mountains.