Yara and her mother live in the rain forest but, nearby, it is being cut down and destroyed by the selfish nature of humans who want its lumber. Yara and her mother work to care for the forest, but it is not always possible. When Yara hears a sapling call to her, she carefully digs it up and moves it to a safe place so it can grow. When Yara becomes ill and is near death, her Manu comes to see if he can help. Fortunately, he knows what to do and how to use the forest to cure her using the magic of the Tawari tree.

Yara and the Tawari Tree is a beautifully illustrated story with an important message. It is written in rhyming verse with a great cadence to read aloud. It is simple enough for young readers to use independently as well. Joanna Pasek's illustrations enhanced this story with their large, vibrant and emotional images. Of course the message of environmental stewardship if strong and easy to see without being preachy. It shows the value of the rainforest and how there are important things it can do to help humanity. From rare species of plants and animals, flora, fauna and its contribution to our delicate climate balance, the rainforest is a resource far too important to lose. This is Book 1, so I look forward to seeing what is next for Yara, her family and the rainforest. This would be a great book to use in classrooms studying the environment and how to help with global warming and deforestation. A book that needs to be in libraries and schools.

Lush watercolor illustrations tell the story of Yara in her home within a he Amazon rainforest. An educational tale where children will watch Yara live with the forest and care for it, work to protect it in the ways that she can with her mother. The care that Yara has for her home isn’t a one way street, when she is in need the forest is there for her as well.
This is a story with ecological morals and should be very good in teaching young readers the necessity of nature.

A delightfully illustrated story about the power and beauty of nature. This is a great introduction to learning about the Amazon rainforest and the importance of conservation.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Yara's Tawari Tree by Yossi Lapid is an adorable story about a young girl named Yara who lives in a lush rainforest. She finds a baby plant that's not thriving. With the help of her mum, she moves the plant to a better location, and it grows into a beautiful tree. Later, when Yara gets suck, she needs a medicine that comes from the specific tree. Written in charming rhyme, and accompanied by gorgeous watercolour artwork, this story teaches young readers the value of working with nature, and the healing it can provide. My cubs and I read this together and we all enjoyed it. Highly recommended addition to any young reader's library, and would make a great classroom/storytime read.

***Many thanks to Netgalley and the author for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Yara is living together with her mother in their quiet rainforest corner. They are happy and they embraced the pristine environment. But not too far away, the threatening human machines are taking over the land.

When Yara saved a seedling of Tawari tree (called also Ixerba, it is a native honey flower tree, used among others to treat infections and various inflammations) she couldn't foresee that this tree will later save her life. As she fell very sick, a concotion made of the tree's leaves brought her back to life.

The message is simple: humans and nature need each other, in a very purposeful way. There is a certain balance between the human heart and the green heart that we often forget it exists. We, humans, we need to start learning again the secret language of nature. We are fragile and easy to break although we have the strength and the tools to create the allmighty nature.

Yara's Tawari Tree is the first book from the a new series of children books created by Yossi Lapid: Yara's Rainforest. Although I've heard about Lapid before, this book was my first direct encounter with the author and most probably would love to read more of his books. The illustrations belong to Joanna Pasek and follow an inspiring style of pastel-watercolours with a touch of Asian painting. The lettering of the cover is in my opinion not the greatest choie, but after all the book appeals to children.

Yara's Tawari Tree is a recommended read to children of 5 years and more. If you want to teach your children to respect and understand nature, this book offers a good and inspiring start.

This was a very short rhyming picture book about a tree in a rainforest. When the Tawari Tree was a sapling, it risked dying along with other trees who were victims of deforestation. Yara came to the rescue and replanted the tree at her place. One day, Yara falls ill and the tree saves her life because of its medicinal properties.

While I love the rhyming aspect of the book, I was hoping for a story that would focus a bit more on deforestation and the benefits that come with saving trees and rainforests. Although the drawings showed pictures of trucks carrying logs there was only one line in the entire book that mentioned the process. After that, it seemed like the process of clearing the forest and destroying Yara's home was completely forgotten. I felt like there wasn't enough emphasis on the importance of saving rainforests.

Yara and her mother live in the rain forest but, sadly it is slowly being destroyed by those who want to use its beautiful big trees for lumber and other chemicals. Yara and her mother work very hard to care for the forest, to nurture and give back to the forest and all those who live within it. One day, when Yara falls dangerously ill, the forest finds a way to return the love by helping to heal Yara with the magic of the Tawari tree.

Yara and the Tawari Tree is very simply told book written in rhyming verse that is perfect for young children who still love to be read to or for younger readers who enjoy reading verse. The children that I read this to absolutely adored the sing-song rhythm of the text which was furthered enhanced with the absolutely brilliant and colorful illustrations which burst off the pages with their vibrancy. Most importantly, this book teaches children about the importance the rainforest and the value that it offers to all of us. From rare species of plants and animals, flora, fauna and its contribution to our delicate climate balance, the rainforest is a resource far too important to lose. Yara’s Tawari Tree is the first in a what will become a picture book series showing children how all living things on our beautiful planet depend on one another. I cannot recommend this book highly enough! The entire series will find a home on our library shelf!

Thank you to #Netgalley, #YossiLapid and #IBPA for my copy of this marvelous book. If you would like to know more about #YaraAndHerMysteryTree , and the kids I read to absolutely did, here is a link with information on the Tawari Tree. It’s fascinating stuff!

Yara’s Tawari Tree is a children’s picture book written by Yossi Lapid.⁣

⁣Tara lives in the Amazon forest with her mother and a pet bird, Chant. The forest was getting cleared tree by tree in the name of modernization. Tara saves one tiny seedling’s life by planting it in her garden. This story drives home an important point that when you protect nature, it protects you. ⁣

I loved the bright colors in this book, the greenery, the green parrot and the red dress of Tara. It is a perfect book to introduce the importance of plants to 3-5 year olds.⁣

Thank you to Netgalley and Independent Book Publishers Association for the ARC.⁣

Rating: 4/5⁣

Yara’s Tawari Tree by Yossi Lapid

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Story Notes

Yossi Lapid offers a children’s book in a warmer climate that she’s chosen before that teaches the importance of taking care of the world around us.

I’m so excited to now be able to review children’s books along with adult books. As a preschool teacher of Sunday School and children’s choir, I know the value of reading and books in a child’s life. And books that teach lessons about taking care of others or our world are always my favorites. Yossi Lapid’s new book takes place in the wonderful Amazon jungle and features a young girl named Yara. Yara and her mother live off the land and care for the jungle around them. When developers and lumber companies invade their area of the jungle, a young Tawari seedling is in danger of being destroyed. Yara carefully brings it home to care for it and in time it will return the care she gave. I loved this simple but important story. Without pointing fingers or showing anger, it shows the importance of taking care of our natural world. I really liked that Mr. Lapid made the main caregiver for this seedling/tree a child; it emphasizes that everyone can help care for nature, not just adults. The vocabulary used was not too complicated but it was not overly simple either. I think that young readers from late 1st to 4th grade would enjoy this story as it offers nice sentence structure with a few challenging words. And younger readers would enjoy hearing the story until they could read it themselves. The illustrations alone would make for a beautiful story so it was very good to have them alongside the writing. The rich colors and the details added really enhanced the story a great deal by providing visual context. I will certainly be recommending this story to others for its important message and lovely illustrations. I am sure that they will find it as enjoyable as I.

I received this E-book free of charge from Independent Book Publishers Association in exchange for a fair and honest review. I will receive no fiscal compensation for this review and the opinions expressed herein are entirely my own.

A lovely picture book armed with beautiful illustrations and good story with moral lesson. Love the rhyming. Younger kids will surely enjoy this.

It's an absolutely stunning picture book with beautiful illustrations and an important message about deforestation.

The artwork and the rhymes in this story all work. Yara lives in the jungle, and while out one day spots a tree barley growing from lack of resources. She digs it up, takes it home, and replants it where it grows big and strong and produces fruit. Later this tree becomes a real lifesaver. As already stated, the artwork is great. Colorful and engaging. The rhymes work, and flow well. It’s just the story. It seems to lack something, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Overall it is a very nicely done picture book.

Young Yara lives in a rainforest environment. She and a relative nurse a sickly plant to health - and then that plant turns out to have medicinal value and saves a life.

This little book has an important, timely message about the codependency between humans and our environment and the importance of taking care of our plants, species and environment so that they can can sustain us. And the book does that without sounding preachy.

I like the intense acid green colour that grounds much of the book by illustrator Joanna Pasek.

I read #YaraandHerMysteryTree by Yossi Lapid via #NetGalley.

Yara and her Mystery Tree tells the story of a young girl and her mother who rescue a struggling plant and provide it with light and nourishment. The plant then returns the favor when Yara falls ill and is saved from the medicinal qualities of the plant. This story holds an excellent moral for children; if we protect and preserve the natural world around us, it will return the favor! It was a lovely little story with even lovelier illustrations! The colors were just as vibrant as the rhyming couplets and the story was meaningful and taught an excellent lesson!

This is a tricky one. I sort of liked it... but it's kind of problematic, thematically speaking.

The illustrations are lovely, and are my favourite part of the book. The story really let me down, though. Right from the start--in a book that one would think would be about respecting nature, given the setting--we run into problems. There's a plant trying to grow in the forest, but it can't get enough light because of the canopy, and so it's dying. What's the problem? A human girl comes along and assumes she knows better than nature. She digs up the plants and moves it somewhere else. Maybe that plant was dying for a good reason. What if transplanting it and helping it thrive introduces a virulent invasive species into a location where it causes problems? Nature usually knows what it's doing. Humans--as we've proven over and over again--don't.

The second issue I have with this book is that Yara goes on to develop some vague, rare, potentially deadly illness that only this unnamed and possibly imaginary tree can fix. I would have rather seen this part of the story be more realistic. Why couldn't she have had a real disease? Why couldn't she have been healed by real rainforest medicine?

As for the technical aspects of the book... well, they're a mixed bag. The story is told in rhyming verse, but it's a bit clunky in places. And the font that was chosen for all the text makes the whole book look self-published and really amateur... which is a shame because, as I said before, the illustrations are really quite nice. I don't know if they're all that accurate, but Yara and the animals are cute, and the whole thing is so colourful and verdant that it really makes the rainforest shine.

So, overall, this is just an average picture book for me. The illustrations are great, but they're dragged down by a problematic premise and lacklustre verse.

4 stars.
Well done, for kids! More than just words, full sentences, a story.
Entertaining, nice pictures, nice story, I recommend!

Yara and her Mystery tree illustrations which look like paintings especially the vibrant green used in different ways. My child got to learna bit about rain forest. It is a sweet story with rhyme and some few new words for a first grader.

Bright watercolors and rhyming couplets tell the story of a mystery plant that has the same problem as the maples from the Rush song The Trees, which means other trees are blocking the sun. A little girl gets her mom to help uproot it to a more advantageous place, which comes back to reward them at the end.
Not only are the rhymes legit, the meter and length are perfect. The plot is fine, though it was easy to see where this was going, even for a kid.
I question the need for the bird and the ant, turning this into a fantasy when it would have been just as well straightforward, but that’s my only nitpick.

Pretty pictures and lovely rhymes
rather enchanting at times
inspiring love for all things green
through children's eyes seen.

This is a story of a mysterious tree in the rain forest and how its fruit helps Yara when she is sick. My copy didn't contain any background info, but I was left wondering if this was a real tree and if so, what is it and what does it do?

This book is full of beautiful frame worthy watercolors- but the font didn't match and seemed to cheapen the look they were going for.