Since moving to a two-acre farm and planting dozens of trees, Nikki Tate has come to appreciate "why trees just might be our best friends."; As a follow-up to her children's book about housing around the world, she celebrates the universal importance of trees in Deep Roots: How Trees Sustain Our Planet (Orca $19.95).

Among other things, we learn that six of the planet's eight species of baobab trees are in Madagascar. During the rainy season, water is stored in their enormous, smooth, white trunks that rise like 100-ft. pillars. The baobab is known as the Tree of Life because the trees produce much-needed fruit in the dry season when little else grows. Baobab flowers bloom at night and are pollinated by bats. 978-1-4598-0582-8