Trace Balla's "Treeshape" teachers' review

Brief description and distinctive features

Look at what other writers have said about Treeshape:

A beautiful book about being connected to the world at ground level. I feel like I've made a new friend through Trace's exquisitely accessible drawings and gentle prose. Alison Lester

Treeshape is brimming with humanity and bursting with the wholesome imagery and folk wisdom that magnify the small details of life - a generous act of love from a rare Australian artist.'- Shane Howard, singer/songwriter, Goanna

Reminiscent of Alison Lester and Roland Harvey, this is a story about moving slowly, looking carefully and remaining curious, and it is a book that leads by example. It is spellbinding. Books+Publishing

I was saddened when the Cross Curriculum Priority, Sustainability, did not feature in the latest English 7-10 syllabus. But students can still explore current ideas and issues about a sustainable future through the ways content is represented and how it positions the reader and viewer to consider such ideas about our world. Treeshape is a wonderful text to explore texts for such insights into our environment and advocacy.

About the author 

Brief description of Treeshape

On Trace Balla’s Instagram post she says this book is ‘about the trees in my life and is a personal story about my awakening to the preciousness of the environment and standing up for what we really care about…’

Treeshape is a memoir of the author’s own journey and awakening to the significance and precious role of the environment. The first 23 pages cover Balla’s childhood, growing up, travelling and becoming an artist. This section includes specific detail about her parents’ background and challenges as well as specific significant world events like the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990. 

On her return to Australia Balla sought peace and fulfilment with trees and the landscape. She continued to work as an artist which led to her painting a mural for a festival to celebrate the return of the snapper to Mordialloc Creek in Victoria. Soon after, she took a walking expedition among the giant trees in Gunaikurnai Country which was ‘blissful’ until the group encountered the results of logging and ‘utter destruction’. She had a profound awakening to the spirituality of the trees. 

Balla was then involved in city demonstrations which led her to join a protest in Jabiluka in the Northern Territory in support of the local Mirarr people against uranium extraction. While in the north Balla joined a local Aboriginal family who took her on Country. Balla returned to Melbourne and tried to agitate against the uranium mining company and returned to Jabiluka and along with others, was imprisoned briefly which increased the media coverage. The protesters’ camp conditions deteriorated and eventually the camp was closed but in 2003 the campaign was successful and people everywhere were watching this significant moment.  Since then, the mining company has repaired and replanted the site and it is now protected as part of the Kakadu National Park. 

Balla had a baby son and they both returned to the city and over the next years Balla and her son Joey travelled to various parts of Australia to connect with Country. When her son left to study, Balla found new connections with Country and learned even more about different trees and how they have been used by First Nations Peoples. Apart from the broader environmental campaigns Treeshape also explores smaller campaigns such as  protesting against the removal of forty trees ‘to make room for astroturf and more playing fields’ in her local suburb.

Balla continues to grow her awareness and devotion to trees and the natural world: “I hug the huge trees and told them I’d speak up for them with my art and my heart.’

Distinctive features of Treeshape

• The combination of written text and images enables students to engage with the ways texts can contain layers of meaning
• The text draws on the tradition of cartooning but adds more detail than traditional cartoons, including labels for specific bird and plant species and sound effects by those birds
• Combination of autobiographical details, Balla’s personal journey of awakening, First Nations insights into caring for Country and specific environment protests across Australia
• The explanation by the author of her purpose in creating the text:  ‘… this book is in its way my acknowledgment of Country’ and p.2 she says ,'This story is mostly a story of trees- and how they have shaped my life.’ And later, on p. 128: “these days back home, I often catch the first light of dawn- the bones of the tree and the bones of me, quietly together in some sort of harmony’ 
• The text combines pen and ink illustrations, photographs and written text. The photographs include archival images of campaigns and Balla herself in different places
• Balla mainly uses the traditional names of places and a valuable task for students would be to explore where these places are e.g. Djaara Country
• The map of specific Countries mentioned in the text only uses the First Nations’ names which is an important acknowledgement
• The Endpapers provide interesting and valuable information about Balla’s storytelling journey and those people she has encountered and who have enriched her insights and knowledge
• Many trees are given specific labels that connect them to people and experiences e.g.  The Grandmother Tree (a yellow box) and Balla introduces the Grandmother Tree in the frontispiece where she includes comments from First Nations woman Kathleen Terrick: ‘The Grandmother Tree stands for everything we hold sacred today … She represents family, Culture, Language, dance, song, ceremony, rites of passage, our love …’
• Belonging and connection to the Country and to each other are key ideas
• The written text alternates between informative narrative and a more poetic modality as shown when she visits the ancient Takayna rainforests of Tasmania: ‘That smoke lingered in my jacket for weeks after. Each time I put it on I felt a sense of belonging in that ancient forest again’ and after Balla lived with the Yolnu women at Mapura she reflects that ‘when I went home, feeling humble and full, that taste remained deep in my soul’
• Towards the end there are insights into the significance of First Nations Histories and Cultures including names of specific First Nations leaders, for example, Adam Goodes, Ash Barty, Cathy Freeman and Archie Roach.

Ways to use Treeshape in the classroom

Listen to the artist 

On her website Balla acknowledges her debt to First Nations Peoples:

It's hard to fathom the thousands of years of Culture of Peoples who know how to live in ways that care for Country so knowledgably and skillfully and what it is to be of place. The Generosity of spirit of the Original Peoples continues to astound and humble me. I am so grateful too for the landscape of Djaara Country where I live, learn, grieve, grow, work and walk, which is such a balm to me every day. I pay my utmost respect to all those ancestors, the Elders, and those growing into them, and those to come, leading the way so wisely, the young mob growing strong and all the generations to come. I hope some of my work is a give back to this generosity.

The artist and author also provides a thumb sketch description of herself in the third person which could inspire readers to create their own:

Trace loves to rise at dawn, especially when it’s frosty, and walk up hills above the fog line to marvel at the dawn light. A self-described ‘story catcher,’ she finds inspiration in nature and incorporates local plant and animal species into her detailed, cartoon-style drawings. 

Some ideas for the classroom

The teaching ideas below are more suited to Stage 4 and 5 students. You would not need to have a full class set as small groups could explore one copy between them. Remind students of the rewards that re-reading brings to their understanding of a text.

Introductory lesson 

Open with this statement: The power of a picture.

Share with the class a range of iconic images which have captured key events and situations. Consider for example:

• Floods and mudslides in Nepal (2026)
• Nick Ut’s photograph of Kim Phuoc and napalm (1972)  
• Attack on the Twin Towers 9/11 (2001)
• The Moon Landing (1969)

What is it about images which are so effective in telling stories, raising awareness and reminding us about events?

Graphics and images have become a significant addition to texts aimed at adolescents. Share a display of graphic novels and picture books suitable for adolescents for example:

• Oxygen Mask
• Medusa
• Song of a Blackbird
• Long Way down
• Beowulf (Gareth Hinds)
• Maus 
• The Dream of the Thylacine 
• The Rabbits.

Ask students to consider features of graphic novels:

• In what ways do these examples of graphic novels engage readers of your age? 
• What is it about the graphic novel form which engages you?
• Think about the capacity of a graphic novel to engage with the graphics and to fulfil a significant purpose such as raising awareness about important issues and concerns within contemporary life. 
• Make a list from class contributions. 

Either as a full class or in small groups explore these questions and share responses:

• The environment - who cares? Why should we care?
• What does the word ‘environment’ mean to you?
• Why is the environment and looking after it so controversial? 
• What traditional lands are we living on here in our school/town/suburb?
• What do you know about the history of the area we are now living on or learning on?
• In your lifetime what changes have you seen that have happened in your local area?
• What is one thing about nature you would love to know more about?

In the coming lessons we are going to explore a new graphic novel that is both the author’s personal story and an exploration of some of the key areas of environmental activism in Australia as well as important insights into First Nations knowledge of and caring for Country.

Share with the class the description of Treeshape earlier on in this blog. You can see from this summary that Treeshape explores a personal story and a broader Australian story about activism and protest to advocate for the environment.

Allow students time to explore Treeshape and ask for initial observations. Did your students notice:

• The interesting information at the beginning and a map of Australia indicating various First Nations places
• The combination of different styles of images
• When photographs are used they invariably have cartoon figures drawn over them 
• The specific references to challenging events in Australian history regarding misuse of the land e.g. Maralinga, Jabiluka
• The colour scheme drawn from the natural world, for example, browns, greens, reds and oranges.

Task: In small group student choose 5 different double pages and list the ways the reader is positioned to consider the key ideas. Students can then share this information with the class. Using the information from the group submissions, students, as individuals or in pairs, answer this question:

In Treeshape what are the most important purposes of Trace Balla and in what ways does she combine words and images to explore her ideas? Make close reference to 4–6 double pages.

For Stage 5

Consider poems that explore the spirituality and sense of connection with our landscape:

• ‘Leaves’ Ali Cobby Eckermann
• ‘The Remedy of Butterflies’ Samuel Wagan Watson
• ‘Boomerangs in a Thunderstorm’ Samuel Wagan Watson
• ‘Locusts Arrive in the City’ Cate Kennedy

The first three poems on this list are written by First Nations poets. In class explore and closely examine the ideas about connection to Country and the importance of quiet and close observations of our environment. 

After an exploration of the poems, students to write a response to the question below:

How have the poets used the poetic form to explore their connection to the landscape? Make close reference to two of the poems in the list above.

Imaginative tasks

1. 

“I often call big old tress ‘Aunty’ trees- one of my favourites I call ‘Diamond in the Mist’ or ‘Aunty Diamond’. She sits right near the Ancestor Tree by the waterhole, where I sometimes have brekkie with the ducks and wallabies, all of us watching the mist rise off the water-or the dew drop fall from the leaves, making ripples in the tannin-dark water, my back steady against her strong trunk.’ p106 

After re-reading Balla’s description write your own imaginative piece of about 500 words which captures the unique features of your local landscape. Think about how you can incorporate concrete details as well as evocative imagery to represent the significance of your landscape.

Include a visual, for example, a photograph, a collage, a pen and ink drawing, a watercolour or oil representation. 

2. Write to one of the large environmental movements like WWF and Greenpeace to persuade them about the important role literature can play to grow awareness and understanding about the key issues of the future.  In your persuasive text make close references to Treescape as a text which explores the importance of awareness and activism in the advocacy for sustainability. Reference two other texts which explore sustainability of the environment both; for example, another picture book, song, speech, poetry, prose fiction.

Texts to explore

Below is a list of texts which could be part of the students’ exploration and inclusion in this task:

• Bindi by Kirli Saunders (see Five Senses blog posted on 25 August 2023) and also the NSW English Teachers’ Association mETAphor: Issue 3 2024
• The series Through My Eyes Australian Disaster Zones: Tyenna, Mia, Alex and Max. These can be found on the Five Senses blog: Max by Prue Mason (4 August 2025), Alex by Rosanne Hawke (21 June 2024) and Mia by Dianne Wolfer (26 October 2023)
• The powerful picture book The Dream of the Thylacine by Margaret Wild and Ron Books. (see Five Senses blog: 5 August 2024)
• Other pictures books include Spark Adam Wallace, Fox Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks, Young Dark Emu Bruce Pascoe and The Dam David Almond and Levi Pinfold
• Environmental websites like WWF, Greenpeace
• ABS Television series: first episode of Ninagaloo Nyinggulu the 2023 television documentary series written and narrated by Tim Winton
• Speeches by Greta Thunberg, Severn Suzuki, Tim Winton (Save Ningaloo speech by Tim Winton)

• Students could also read Tim Winton’s Blueback and view the 2023 film (see Five Senses blog 18 July 2024) and read the backstory from Blueback’s director Robert Connolly and his insights about the impact of films like Blueback

  Share The Golden Mole, a glorious text by Katherine Rundell which is a truly splendid exploration of the wonders of the animal kingdom. See Five Senses blog: 26 August 2024.

• Trace Balla’s blog on the backstory and her involvement in activism within various environmental projects
• A Q&A with Trace Balla on the Goodreading Magazine site
• On her website there is an episode from ABC TV’s Gardening Australia which gives insight into Trace’s creative process in a very accessible way

Resources with a primary / lower secondary focus 

Allen and Unwin have created an impressive teacher resource which is pitched at upper primary and lower secondary ages.

Primary teachers would enjoy examining pp 102–103 and using the representation of the seasons of Djaara Country as a model to create a map or graphic of seasonal observations within their own environment.

Relevant details in relation to the new NSW English K-10 syllabus

Text requirements: Treeshape is a graphic novel (multimodal text) by an Australian author and fulfils the requirements to give students experience of a range of types of texts inclusive of short prose, visual, spoken, multimodal and digital texts.

Concepts could include Representation • Perspective and context • Theme.

Relevant NSW English K-10 Syllabus content

Reading, viewing and listening to texts

A student uses a range of personal, creative and critical strategies to read texts that are complex in their ideas and construction EN4-RVL-01

Reading, viewing and listening skills

• Apply reading pathways to determine form, purpose and meaning
• Explore the main ideas and thematic concerns posed by a text for meaning

Reading, viewing and listening for meaning

• Engage with the ways texts contain layers of meaning, or multiple meanings
• Explain personal responses to characters, situations and issues in texts, recognising the role of written, oral or visual language in influencing these personal responses
• Explain how the use of language forms and features in texts might create multiple meanings
• Using a range of texts, describe how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors convey connections between Culture and identity

Reading for challenge, interest and enjoyment

• Read texts selected to challenge thinking, develop interest and promote enjoyment, to prompt a personal response
• Read a variety of texts that present a range of perspectives and experiences, including those of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, and respond in a range of ways, including sustained written responses where appropriate
• Discuss and reflect on the value of reading for personal growth and cultural awareness
• Understand the ways reading helps us understand ourselves and make connections to others and to the world

Reflecting

• Reflect on how reading promotes a broad and balanced understanding of the world and enables students to explore universal issues
• Reflect on own experiences of reading by sharing what was enjoyed, discussing challenges to strengthen an understanding of the value of reading

Understanding and responding to texts A

A student analyses how meaning is created through the use of and response to language forms, features and structures EN4-URA-01

Representation

• Explore how language and text are acts of representation that range from objective to subjective and may offer layers of literal or implied meanings, and apply this understanding in own texts

Code and convention

• Understand how language forms, features and structures, in a variety of texts, vary according to context, purpose and audience, and demonstrate this understanding through written, spoken, visual and multimodal responses

Connotation, imagery and symbol

• Analyse how figurative language and devices can represent ideas, thoughts and feelings to communicate meaning
• Explain how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors use figurative language and devices to shape meaning

Point of view

• Understand how choice of first, second and third-person voice can establish different relationships between creator and audience, and experiment with changes in point of view in own texts

Narrative

• Understand narrative conventions, such as setting, plot and sub-plot, and how they are used to represent events and personally engage the reader, viewer or listener with ideas and values in texts, and apply this understanding in own texts
• Examine how narratives can depict personal and collective identities, values and experiences

Understanding and responding to texts B

A student examines and explains how texts represent ideas, experiences and values EN4-URB-01

Theme

• Understand how repetition, patterning and language features used within a text communicate ideas about social, personal, ethical and philosophical issues and experiences, and demonstrate this understanding through written, spoken, visual and multimodal responses

Perspective and context

• Understand how perspectives are shaped by language and text
• Consider the influence of cultural context on language

(English K-10 Syllabus 2022 © NSW Education Standards Authority for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2023)

Connecting texts