In Worth More Growing, youth, from kindergarten through grade twelve, share their love and respect for trees. Speaking to our changing climate, this new generation of old-growth defenders express their observations, anger, kinship, hope and sorrow. This unique anthology includes a wide range of voices—Indigenous, settler, immigrant, and even international youth. Worth More Growing is a necessary anthology highlighting the importance of nature to a generation that will experience the ongoing consequences of climate change.

Christine Lowther has been a lifelong activist and a resident of Clayoquot Sound since 1992. She is the co-editor of two collections of essays, Living Artfully: Reflections from the Far West Coast (The Key Publishing House, 2012) and Writing the West Coast: In Love with Place (Ronsdale Press, 2008), and the author of three books of poetry, My Nature (Leaf Press, 2010), Half-Blood Poems (Zossima Press, 2011) and New Power (Broken Jaw Press, 1999). Most recently, several of her poems appear in Force Field: 77 Women Poets of British Columbia (Mother Tongue, 2013).

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“What a joy it was reading the tree poems in this collection. From the unabashed innocence of the early grades’ love of nature to the heartbreak and awareness of the older students recognizing the damage of climate change, these poems run the gamut of experience. I think the trees used to print the pages of this book would be honoured to present these words to the world.”

—RC Weslowski, Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Champion, 2 time World Cup of Poetry Slam Finalist and author of “My Soft Response to the Wars” on Write Bloody North Press

“Trees are dolphins and mothers, trees are best friends and providers, trees are medicine and wisdom … in this joyous book young writers share with us their relations with trees. Experience the wonder of growing up to trees: from a seven-year-old thanking a tree for unicorn cake all the way to high school students trembling at the endangerment of forests. Earthtastic!!”

—Sonnet L’Abbe, author of Sonnet’s Shakespeare

“To attend to trees the way children attend to trees. That is the mission, the message, the meaning of this impressive collection of children’s poetry. These poems attest to the love that children have for trees: careful, imaginative, guileless. One child writes: whenever I get close to a tree/ my heart feels more lovely. Another admits: I love trees in a different way than people. Another warns: Before you cut me down/. . . let me tell you . . . /tree frogs cling to my bark. Read this book for the innocence and for the wisdom it contains.”

—Arleen Paré, author of Lake of Two Mountains

“The wisdom of these young voices made me weep and gave me hope. It’s as if they all know the tree’s roots are their umbilical. With the destruction of a tree, their dreams are destroyed—in fact, this destroys all of us.”

—Louise B. Halfe, Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate

“It’s impossible to look at the miracle of a tree and not be deeply moved. It’s the same with the rich array of writing in Worth More Growing. If you seek out elemental shared creative communication, essential imaginative utterance, and poetry’s pure drop, you’ll find it throughout this quite wonderful anthology.”

—Russell Thornton, father, poet, author of Answer to Blue

“Open Worth More Growing and you’ll enter the woods as well as the minds of these imaginative young writers as they look up at firs taller than their Dad, cedars with holes for squirrels, branches tickled by wind. They’re keeping an eye on clearcuts and concrete where a tree once stood. ‘We need to stand up for what keeps us alive’ (Rio Green)”

—Cornelia Hoogland, co-author of Cosmic Bowling, a collaboration with Ted Goodden (Guernica, 2020)