National Audubon Society Pocket Guide to Familiar Trees: East

This book is an excellent reference book for the nature lover who isn't up to speed regarding the particulars. For each tree, there is a blowup photo of the leaves, a smaller one of the bark and a black and white sketch of the general appearance of the tree from a distance. There is also the English and scientific names and some textual explanation of the tree. This explanation is a paragraph description of the appearance, a paragraph on how to identify it and one sentence descriptions of the habitat and geographical range where it is found.

Ok, this isn't the full blown Audubon Tree book(s), but at this price, what do you expect? This and all the Pocket Guides are great stocking stuffers for kids, especially for those blessed with parents who think getting the latest Gameboy or Hero Clix is more important (hint hint, you know who you are). As they get older, their interests will become more defined and you'll know what (more expensive/extensive) particular field guide(s) to buy them. Yeah, it's cliche, but a child's mind *is* a terrible thing to waste. I've bought all the Audubon Pocket guides more than once (kept a few for myself, yes they're that good) and I've only been disappointed with one (most of the photos were blurry). No, I won't say which one, as it may not matter to someone else (but I'm picky about that kind of stuff). Hand them out to your nieces and nephews, and any other kid that can't tell an oak from a pine tree or quartz from slate or Pleiades from Orion or ... well, you get the picture. They've thanked me later on(and actually meant it, lol) and they'll thank you too.

I like these small Audubon books because they are light and easy to use. The pictures are clear and the information is easy to read and use. They aren't as detailed as the bigger Audubon books, but then the larger ones are heavier and in a back pack, being light weight is everything.

I bought this book because I was tired of only being able to identify a handful of the most distinctive trees. This small, colorful and easy-to-use guide was a godsend. It it paperback and can easily fit into a breast pocket, yet the full-page color photos of leaf shapes and sizes are adequate - even for a novice like me - to identify trees. It shows tree silhouettes, bark types and leaves and explains about various tree families to help us all be able to distinguish the trees from the proverbial forest! The information, organization and size of this book make it a "strong-buy" for anyone with an interest in "knowing" trees better!