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The Last Treeby Emily Haworth-Booth
Resource Pack for Book Groups& Key Stage 2 Teachers
From the author of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize
shortlisted The King Who Banned the Dark, comes a powerful fable
about community and our relationship with nature, where
children dictate the future. The Last Tree is an arresting tale
that feels both timeless and timely for the current environmental
and political climate.
Once upon a time a group of friends were seeking a place to call
home. The desert was too hot, the valley was too wet and the
mountain was too windy. Then they found the forest. It was perfect.
The leaves gave shelter from the sun and rain, and a gentle breeze
wound through the branches.
But the friends soon wanted to build shelters. The shelters
became houses, then the houses got big-ger. All too soon they
wanted to control the environment and built a huge wooden wall
around the community. As they cut down the trees, the forest became
thinner, until there was just one last tree standing. It was down
to the children to fi nd a solution.
Discussion Points & Activities
• What makes a good home? How do you choose a place to live?
Design your perfect home in the perfect location. Label with
captions. Use persuasive language and reasonable argument to
explain to others why your home is the best.
• What makes a good home? How do you choose a place to live?
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• In the story, the people founded their own community. What do
you need to make a community? What roles did people have in their
community? What else did they need? PSHE: Discuss when the
community went wrong and why. History: Look at communities that you
have studied that have been divided.
• Play Chinese whispers. Discuss how rumours spread. Discuss
page 18: Why did the people think badly of each other? Were they
right? How could they have sorted it out?
• “Each parent, thinking they were being clever, said the same
thing to their child.” Are parents always right? How were they
trying to protect their family?
• List the things the children did together. Why did the
children decide not to cut the tree down? Should children always
obey adults? When is it ok not to do this? Link to Greta
Thunberg.
• Why are trees so important? What should we use instead of wood
to make the things we need? Is plastic better? Why or why not? Make
posters about recycling and climate change. Look at endangered
species and the rainforests. How have these changed as more trees
have been cut down? Look at the fi res in Australia. Find out how
this has a� ected the environment and the animals there.
• Does a wall make you safe? Why or why not? Look at the Berlin
Wall and/or Trump’s plan to build a wall. Debate this using a
conscious alley. The class forms two lines facing each other. One
person is
chosen to walk between the lines as each member of the two lines
gives their opinion/shares their argument. One side arguing that a
wall makes you safe and the other argues the opposite. When the end
of the alley is reached the person makes their decision.
• In the story, the people founded their own community. What do
you need to make a community?
• Play Chinese whispers. Discuss how rumours spread. Discuss
page 18:
• “Each parent, thinking they were being clever, said the same
thing to their child.” Are parents always right?
• List the things the children did together. Why did the
children decide not to cut the tree down?
• Why are trees so important? What should we use instead of wood
to make the things we need?
• Does a wall make you safe? Why or why not? Look at the Berlin
Wall and/or Trump’s plan to build a wall.
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• “In the bright daylight they remembered…” Read these two pages
(pp. 28-29) and discuss the language that has been used. What do
you think the people remembered? How do you think they felt? What
was it that reminded them of the old times? Write a poem to
describe what they saw, heard and felt in the forest. Can you use
descriptive language to describe the forest?
Compare the language used in your poem with how words and
sentences are used to describe the wall. What did it look like? How
would it have made you feel to look at it?
• Do you think life was better in the past? What do your parents
and grandparents think? Invite some older people to talk to the
class about what life was like when they were children. Think of
questions to ask them. How was life di� erent then? Which things
were better/ worse? What inventions have made life better/ worse?
How has technology/ social media improved society? How has it
damaged it?
• Do you think life was better in the past? What do your parents
and grandparents think?
Notes prepared by Nicola Bragger BEd (Hons) & Laura Keatley
BSc (Hons) PGCE
• “In the bright daylight they remembered…” Read these two pages
(pp. 28-29) and discuss the language that has been used.
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