The Biggest Sequoia

The Biggest Sequoia Written by the Segall Bryant & Hamill team Cover illustrated by Rob Rehburg

Poppy felt small on Monday. She looked up but couldn't feel the sun on her leaves. She wished she were bigger. She often thought about being bigger. No matter how hard she tried, she always felt small.

Rowan looked down at her, shook his gigantic leaves, and dropped about 100 pine cones onto her. “You're so tiny,� he laughed.

Poppy ignored him. She knew Rowan was a bully and remembered what her mother would always tell her: We may be giant Sequoia trees, but it really doesn't matter how big you are on the outside, Poppy, it's what's inside that counts! Still, she couldn't help feeling sad all the same.

1

Poppy remembered that her mother, YAYA, told her that you should always treat others with respect so she decided to try to be Rowan’s friend. That afternoon she raised her leaves to give him a high five, but instead, he dropped more pinecones on her.

Poppy gathered all of her courage and patience. She looked up at Rowan and said, “Rowan, I’m just trying to be your friend.”

Rowan laughed, “ No one wants to be my friend. They’re all afraid of me.” Then Poppy said, “Don’t you feel lonely?”

Rowan laughed again and threw down more pinecones.

2

Poppy’s feelings were hurt but she knew that Rowan probably felt worse on the inside. Surely, Rowan wanted friends. Poppy had many friends and knew how special they made her feel.

At that instant, Poppy came up with a plan.

She gathered all of the pine cones that Rowan had dropped onto her and began to plant them around Rowan.

Magically, the next morning one of the saplings began to sprout.

3

By the time afternoon came, the sapling had grown taller than Poppy, but wasn't nearly as tall as Rowan.

"Hi! I'm Willow!" the new tree shouted up at Rowan before noticing Poppy below. Impressed by how fast Willow had grown, Rowan gave Willow a low five. *SLAP!* "Hi, Willow! I'm Poppy!" Poppy beamed.

Willow greeted Poppy back and eagerly extended her branches to Poppy for another low five.

4

Rowan saw how much fun it was to have a new friend that both he and Poppy could share, “Poppy”, he said, “thank you for being so thoughtful and making room for a new friend to join us here in the forest. I feel really bad about being so mean to you. Will you forgive me?”

Poppy smiled up at her towering friend and said, “Of course, I just knew that deep down inside your bark, even though you’re much bigger than all of us sequoias, you wanted to make friends and be happy.”

Willow, who was quietly listening to her two tree friends talk, burst out happily: “Yay! I’m so glad to be growing up right beside you both! We have the best sequoia neighborhood EVER!”

5

Rowan’s new friendships warmed his heart and he felt proud to be living in the best sequoia neighborhood EVER! He was so excited about his new friends he wanted to do something special for them.

Rowan thought and thought about what special things he could do for them. He wanted them to feel special like they made him feel. During the night Rowan dreamed all of the different ideas he was going to do for his friends. When he woke up the next day it was a beautiful sunny day.

ZzZzZ...

6

With the sun on his branches and the warmth on his bark he lowered his branches to allow the sun to shine on Poppy and Willow.

Poppy and Willow could feel the warmth of the sun on their branches and gave their new friend a big smile. They knew this friendship would last forever. Rowan smiled back and almost couldn’t handle his excitement, he’d thought of the perfect, special thing to do for his friends!

7

Although, this day was bright and beautiful, Rowan could feel on the wind that a big storm would be coming the next day. Rowan knew his friends were small and still growing, so he decided that he had to help them through this storm so they could become big and strong too, just like him. He knew from his long life that sometimes people need the sun to shine on them, and other times they needed to be protected.

After enjoying the sunny day talking and playing with his new friends, Rowan told them to be ready for the storm. The next morning, as he saw the clouds come in, he prepared to keep his new friends safe.

8

The clouds became angry and the winds began to howl. The sequoia neighborhood became a dark and scary place. Rain slowly fell in large drops, but the rain became harder and harder.

Poppy and Willow tried to look up, but every time they did so they were stung by the rain drops.

Rowan moved his branches to protect them from the rain and block some of the wind. The trees all bent as the wind blew, struggling to stay upright as the storm raged. Even Rowan was scared and wondered if he could stand and protect his friends. But when he looked down and saw Poppy and Willow, he knew he had to stay strong for them. He felt better knowing they could brave the storm together, so he faced into the wind again and stood tall against the rain.

9

When the storm passed, Poppy, Willow and Rowan all breathed a big sigh of relief, feeling exhausted they all promptly fell asleep! As they woke the next morning, they realized they had lost some pine cones, some small branches, and a lot of leaves, but they were happy to see the sun again.

Then Poppy saw something concerning. “Oh no, Rowan! It looks like there is a crack way up high on your trunk. It must have been from the storm,� said Poppy.

10

Rowan used a branch to feel the top of his trunk and found that Poppy was right. The crack went almost all the way through. “If I lose that much of my truck, I won’t be the biggest sequoia in the neighborhood anymore!” Rowan was worried - if he wasn’t the biggest tree, how would he be special?

Throughout the day, Rowan tried to hold his trunk together but it was no use, the crack kept getting bigger. By the time the sun was setting, the crack split all the way through and the top half of Rowan crashed to the ground.

He cried big, sappy tears throughout the whole night.

11

Poppy and Willow felt awful. They knew Rowan's trunk had cracked because he was trying to protect them. He no longer felt special because he wasn't the biggest sequoia.

Suddenly Poppy realized how she could cheer Rowan up!

"Rowan, you saved us during the storm. You are special because you protected us and you are our best friend. You are the strongest tree we know and someday you will grow to be the biggest sequoia again."

Rowan realized his friends were right.

Friendship made him special and he would grow big again someday.

12

This book was collaboratively written by the Segall Bryant & Hamill team: Ryan Johnston John Fenley Derek Smith Glenn Rippey Georgene Pedrie Judy Gregory Matuya Brand Darren Hewitson Cover illustration by: Rob Rehburg