Sometimes I Feel Like an Oak
Written by Danielle Daniel
Illustrated by Jackie Traverse
Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press
Ages 4-8
Available April 2nd, 2024

Oak trees are strong, and redwoods enduring. Maples can be generous, and pines peaceful. In these twelve short poems that compare different species of trees to feelings, Daniel paints trees as an access point for the wide array of emotions that people may feel. The twelve poems each describe a type of tree, starting with the repeating refrain, “Sometimes I feel like” and then identifying the tree. Three apt adjectives comprise the second line, and the third and fourth lines illustrate a fact about the tree emblematic of the tree’s description. For instance, a maple tree is generous, as it “share[s] my flowing sap / as winter turns toward spring” (p 5). Backmatter includes an author’s note that discusses Daniel’s Algonquin ancestry, where she learned of the wisdom and sentient nature of trees.

Daniel balances the educational with the emotive in her free verse poems; trees capture the feelings of a child, with willows feeling “shivery, sensitive and sad” (p 17) or aspens “stretch[ing] to conquer fears” amidst “trembling leaves” (p 13). The illustrator, Jackie Traverse, is Ojibway, and her art is often inspired by her indigenous culture, most noticeable in her colorful cover art. With acrylic and gouache paintings, Traverse gives a vivid, lively, earthy feel to the two-page spreads. Her calm journey through the seasons pairs well with the digestible, grounding text. She uses colder blues for winter, bright pinks of spring, warm greens for summer, and soft browns and yellow of fall, and she depicts children on each page in temperaments that coincide with the feeling of the trees, like solitude or joy. With Daniel’s concluding question, “What do you see in a tree?,” she connects readers to their natural world and encourages them to live harmoniously with each other, just like trees.