How to Draw a Tree

Story by David LaRochelle  Illustrations by Colleen Muske Minnesota Historical Society Press (August 2025) Description The key to drawing a tree—or anything, for that matter—is to understand your subject. How do you get to know a tree? Use all your senses! Would you like to draw a tree? Here’s how. First, you’ll need to make friends with your tree. Feel it. Smell it. Listen to it. Look at your tree from close up and far away. Notice all the things that make your tree special, from the shape of its leaves to the variety of colors hidden within. There are so many words that could describe a tree: prickly, shimmery, scraggly, squat, ancient, graceful, crooked, proud. What words would you choose? All these details will help when you sit down to draw your tree. You can show everything you observed, from color to texture to shape. Then you can introduce your tree to others—using your words and your artwork. Every tree is unique, and there are many different kinds. The pages of How to Draw a Tree show a wide array of species, with the name for each tucked into the illustrations, encouraging readers to slow down, appreciate, and learn. Through direct questions and lively examples, longtime children’s book author David LaRochelle invites readers to explore their natural surroundings. Colleen Muske’s whimsical, vibrant illustrations help readers see trees in a new light. Drawing a tree involves getting to know your subject before even picking up a pencil. The more you look, the more you see. Beyond an art or science lesson, this book encourages young artists to go outside and spend time in nature, exploring firsthand what they plan to draw. Teacher's Guide Author Information David LaRochelle has been writing and illustrating award-winning children’s books for over thirty years. He lives in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Colleen Muske is the writer and illustrator of Linden: The Story of a Tree. She lives in Stillwater, Minnesota. hardcover 32 pages fully illustrated 10 x 10 inches ISBN: 978-1-68134-321-1 Editorial Reviews Embracing geographic and seasonal variability, LaRochelle’s observational text coaches would-be artists using simple tactics for noticing. After a basic directive (“Go outside and find a tree”), suggestions encourage appreciation of each selected subject’s varied attributes, including texture, color, shape, leaves, branches, and more (“Some trees smell like a chest in your attic”). Featuring background textures, Muske’s undulating artwork emphasizes arboreal diversity, with scenes featuring nonrecurring children, depicted with varied skin tones, spending fall, winter, spring, and summer days among species such as a live oak, Norway spruce, and Joshua tree, shown in endpapers. Emphasizing perception over creative technique (drawing-specific instructions never materialize), the creators successfully underscore the importance of mindful attentiveness as a first step toward art-making. Ages 3–7. — Publisher's Weekly