18 S UNDAY, MARCH 13, 2022
ARIPPLE OFmonarch butterflies. A cathe-
dral of trees. An epiphany of feathers. For
most of human existence, nature has been
inextricably intertwined with spirituality.
We build churches of all brands and
write religious rules in many languages.
These people bury their dead; those peo-
ple burn them. Here men shepherd the sa-
cred histories; there women do. She covers
her head; he bares his soul. You remove
your shoes; I don a hat. Every culture has
its own opinion about the care and feeding
of immortal souls.
But nature acts as a sort of universal
guarantor of holiness. For generations,
people around the world have felt there is
something divine about a remote moun-
taintop, a silent grove, a snow-white stag
glimpsed through virgin foliage. The claus-
trophobic urban throng can obscure abso-
lute truth; in the unmarred wilderness all
becomes clear.
So what happens to our souls when there
is no more wilderness to underwrite them?
Three new titles explore that question.
“Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs,”
“Every Leaf a Hallelujah” and “Wing-
bearer” all feature protagonists who be-
come guardians of the natural world, and
by extension of human spirituality.
“Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs”
is the latest offering from Pam Muñoz
Ryan, a two-time Pura Belpré Medal win-
ner (“The Dreamer” and “Esperanza Ris-
ing”). In this old-fashioned middle grade
fantasy, Solimar Guadalupe, the soon-to-
be-princess of San Gregorio, is imbued
with an unusual gift after risking her life to
greet the annual butterfly migration in the
nearby oyamel fir forest. The youngest and
weakest of the butterflies have sought
sanctuary in her rebozo(or shawl), and for
as long as they shelter there Solimar, when
she is in the sun, can tell the future to any-
one who asks.
Solimar’s world is not unlike the tradi-
tional high fantasy worlds young readers
encountered decades ago
in books like Lynne Reid
Banks’s “The Farthest-
Away Mountain” and Sher-
wood Smith’s “Wren to the
Rescue,” except that it is
suffused with a Mexican
aesthetic rather than the
still much more prevalent
Western European one.
San Gregorio is popu-
lated not by wicked step-
mothers or gingerbread
witches but by wise abue-
lasand quirky brujas. Most
important, it is defined by
the butterflies’ yearly visit
and their nebulous power,
which is why Solimar
takes her newfound re-
sponsibility seriously. The
butterflies represent both
sovereignty and spiritual
wholeness.
When Solimar discovers
that a neighboring king in-
tends to cut down the but-
terflies’ home, she sets off
on a treacherous canoe ad-
venture to thwart his plan,
with the help of a talking
doll and a river rat.
Although the various
plot strands never quite
cohere, middle grade fan-
tasy readers hungry for
more diverse fare will be
grateful for this addition to
the field.
“Every Leaf a Hallelu-
jah,” written by the Booker
Prize winner Ben Okri
(“The Famished Road”)
and illustrated by Diana
Ejaita (who, like Okri, is of
Nigerian heritage), more
directly ties together the
fates of the human world
and the natural world. This
unusual work — neither
picture book nor novel — is
a slender fable about the power of the indi-
vidual to save society as a whole.
Its heroine, Mangoshi, a little African
girl who lives beside an imposing forest, is
on a quest to fetch a medicinal flower to
save her dying mother. The first time she
ventures into the woods — distracted by
the sentient trees clustering around her
and talking boisterously — she fails in herattempt. The second time, a year later,
when her mother has become even more
gravely ill, Mangoshi discovers that the
forest has been ravaged by industrializa-
tion. Once again she hears the voice of a
tree, only this tree is fallen and sobbing:
“It’s too late now.... I’m at the end.”
Devastated by its dis-
tress and thinking of her
mother, Mangoshi
presses on, in search of
both the flower and an-
swers — in search of
healing.
Eventually she en-
counters a baobab (the
oldest tree in the forest).
It whisks her away on a
mystical journey through
history to demonstrate
the age-old bond between
humans and trees.
Ejaita’s bright illustra-
tions, influenced by Afri-
can textile traditions,
bring ancient oaks, se-
quoias and bristlecone
pines to life.
“They are beautiful!”
Mangoshi says of a grove
of hundred-year-old ash
trees.
“That is because they
are loved,” the baobab re-
plies.
Back in the present, a
team of men with chain
saws and machines have
come to cut down the
baobab. “You will have to
cut me down first before
you touch this tree,” a
newly steeled Mangoshi
announces. The team’s
manager explains that
the trees will be turned
into houses, furniture and
books, but Mangoshi is
unmoved. So he concedes
that they will not cut
down the baobab. “Nor
any of the others,” Man-
goshi insists. “How would
you like it if someone
from the sky came and
said they would save you
but kill everyone else?”
Her act of courage at-
tracts the world’s attention, and the forest
is spared. Overjoyed, the baobab reveals to
Mangoshi the sought-after flower, which
has started growing again at the tree’s
roots. Mother and forest endure.
Children might balk at the neatness of
the ending, but adults who long for the re-
membered simplicity of childhood will ac-
cept it as a balm.The book in the trio with the most com-
plexity is also, surprisingly, the one that’s
the most overtly commercial. “Wing-
bearer,” written by Marjorie Liu (of “Mon-
stress” fame) and illustrated by Teny Aida
Issakhanian, is a wondrously constructed
graphic novel about connection, privilege
and memory.
Young Zuli is the only human occupant
of the Great Tree, a holding place between
worlds for the souls of birds. For her entire
life, she’s helped nurture these recently de-
ceased souls so they can be reborn. Her
world changes, however, when souls stop
arriving at the tree. Although her bird spir-
it family longs for her to stay with them,
Zuli plunges into the outside world to find
both the missing souls and the story of her
past.
Along the way, she collects a host of com-
panions. A talking owl, a displaced goblin,
an enslaved warrior and a dragon willingly
separated from his own kind all, in turn,
help and hinder, each offering a different
look at the costs and benefits of identity
and community.
The world is broken in “Wingbearer,” but
there are no easy answers. When Zuli dis-
covers that goblins cut down trees, she re-
fuses to work with them — she knows first-
hand that trees are sentient. Like the man-
ager in “Every Leaf a Hallelujah,” her gob-
lin friend counters with bitter practicality:
“Without wood, we would die. We use it to
build shelters, keep warm, cook meals....
Nothing here is free.”
Ultimately, Zuli must compromise. It
doesn’t matter if the sentient trees have
deep spiritual meaning — in this world ev-
erything costs something, and “Wing-
bearer” is invested in honoring that cost
rather than ignoring it.
But thematic depth is not all the book
has to offer. Nail-biting stakes, stagger-
ingly good action sequences, and charac-
terization and world-building as rich as in
any prose novel make this series opener an
effortless recommendation.
The art, by Issakhanian, a storyboard
artist for animation studios, is a sure-
footed explosion of leaves and color. Solid
character design makes it easy to keep
track of the many faces, and even the most
complicated scenes possess an intuitive
visual through-line.
A good choice for readers new to graphic
novels, “Wingbearer” is a triumph, from
two creators at the top of their game.
For nearly all of history, our spirituality
has relied on nature being bigger, stronger
and more enduring than we are. In a bitter
turn of events, we’ve become masters of
the trees, with our spirituality still tangled
in their branches.
These three books are first steps toward
the new mythologies we will write for our-
selves. 0MAGGIE STIEFVATER’Snext young adult novel,
“Bravely,” is due out in May.
Children’s Books/FictionSeeing the Forest for the Trees
In three new fantasies, brave children show that saving humanity can begin with a single sprout.
By MAGGIE STIEFVATER
SOLIMAR
The Sword of the Monarchs
By Pam Muñoz Ryan
208 pp. Disney/Hyperion. $17.99.
(Ages 8 to 12)
EVERY LEAF A HALLELUJAH
By Ben Okri
Illustrated by Diana Ejaita
112 pp. Other Press. $22.99.
(Ages 8 and up)
WINGBEARER
By Marjorie Liu
Illustrated by Teny Aida Issakhanian
208 pp. Quill Tree Books/HarperAlley. Cloth,
$22.99. Paper, $12.99.
(Ages 8 to 12)