Children’s book grows back into a tree

Tree Book Tree is a plantable book made from recycled materials and embedded with seeds, which grows back into a tree once read.

In Argentina alone, 6 million physical books are published each month, which amounts to 45 million pages per day — or to put it another way, a whole lot of trees. At a time when an area of forest the size of a football pitch is lost every two minutes, Argentinian children’s book publisher Pequeño Editor has launched a project called Tree Book Tree, in order to educate and inspire their young readers about the need for ecologically responsible behavior.

The project creates bespoke storybooks that can be planted, and will grow back into trees. Hand stitched copies of the children’s book “My Dad Was in The Jungle” are made from recycled acid-free paper and biodegradable inks and the cover is embedded with native jacaranda seeds.

The book is aimed at children aged 8-12 who, after reading, can plant the book and watch the tree grow as they do. Each copy comes with planting instructions and the book has also been displayed in bookshops, where it can be seen germinating. How else could physical products be adapted to educate young users about how they are made?