Charles Bongers Wins Bronze Medal at Moonbeam Awards
With whimsical art and gentle text, Do Trees Have Mothers? translates scientific knowledge about the kinship structures of the forest into a beautiful and affirming story about how trees nurture the young. Discover all the ways in which a mother tree protects and nourishes the baby trees of the forest understory and show young children what it means to care for a community, and for our environment and the earth. The perfect book for budding nature lovers, this book introduces the forest’s complex and fascinating wonders in a friendly and age-appropriate way.
Charles Bongers has had a lifelong passion for nature and the outdoors as a world-class sailor, mountain climber and tree advocate. He is the founder and creative director of Charles Bongers + Co., an eco-focused, brand design company, based in Toronto. Charles also serves as creative advisor to Wild Entrust/Coaching Conservation, a wildlife conservation trust in Southern Africa, and to Woodfield True Nature Campus, a nature-focused retreat dedicated to supporting families experiencing chronic illness. Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Charles now lives in Toronto.
About the Moonbeam Prize
The Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards are intended to bring increased recognition to exemplary children’s books and their creators, and to support childhood literacy and life-long reading. The Moonbeam Awards recognize and reward the best of these books and bring them to the attention of booksellers, librarians, parents, and children.
In the Environmental Issues category, the gold medal winner was The Jar Menagerie (Albatross Book Co.) by Monica Babich, illustrated by C.S. Fritz. Dinosaurs Living in MY Hair! 3: An Underwater Adventure (RoseVallee Creations) by Jayne M. Rose-Vallee, illustrated by Bonnie Helen Hawkins, won silver, and Do Trees Have Mothers? (Douglas & McIntyre) by Charles Bongers tied with The Snow Leopard's New Friend (The Sumeru Press Inc.) by Michael Buckley.