In a sonnet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning sets out to count the ways she loves someone. In Jewish tradition, individuals are asked to recite 100 blessings a day bestowed upon them by God. In this spiritual children's picture book, writer Laura Purdie Salas and illustrator Violeta Dabija list the many things a leaf on a tree can be and do. Some of these include being a soft cradle and a water ladle, a tree topper and a rain stopper, an air cleaner and an earth greener. When the seasons change to fall and winter, leaves perform different services.
Readers are encouraged to go and find out for themselves what else leaves can be. The functions of leaves are poetically rendered in the first part of the book, and there is a scientific explanation of each role a leaf plays in the back, along with a glossary of terms and suggestions for further reading.
A Leaf Can Be . . . is an earth-cherishing resource that proclaims the connections leaves have with other elements of the natural world. It's for girls and boys who love trees and want to learn more about them.
