“You did it,” I tell the children. “The forest is brighter and healthier than I have seen it for many rings. Even the curtain is complete again.”
Arrow beams.
Storma says, “Who’s saying that?”
“Yeah, who’s talking about rings and curtains?” Luco glances around.
“I heard it too,” says Safa.
“Me too,” says Delora.
“Yeah, me too,” says Mercou.
One by one, they all say they heard me, and when Arrow tells them, “That’s the new Guardian,” his smile gets even bigger.
My leaves dance in the wind. The chlidren are one with the forest now, and we are one with them.
Mother always used to say she missed the Forest Dwellers. But now we have new humans to live among us.
The herd throw questions at Arrow about the forest, the Anima, and me, until he raises his hands and says, “I don’t know everything. We’ll have to figure it out together.”
Then Faive asks one more. “Will we always hear the Guardian? Will she always hear us?” The others gather in closer for his answer, but he shrugs.
“I’ve heard the Guardian for as long as I’ve been in the forest,” he says. “I imagine that as long as we live with the land and as long as we open ourselves to listen, we’ll always be connected to the forest.”
He goes quiet for a breath, a small frown forming on his forehead, then says, “Guardian, where are you?”
Oh! In all the excitement, I hadn’t shown the children where I am.
“You know the Crooked Rock?”
Arrow nods.
“East of that, look for the largest tree, with branches that make the shape of a circle.”
“Come on,” Arrow says, and the children come pounding toward me. When they near the spot, Arrow slows, and the others follow. All eyes are on the branches, looking for the circle. Looking for me.
“You are close,” I tell them.
Then Petari points. “There!”
I see myself through Curly’s eyes, from Arrow’s shoulder. Tall, strong, golden leaves shining in the evening sun.
“Hi, Guardian.” Arrow smiles at me.
“Hi, Arrow.”
* * *
Over the next few days, the children decide where they’re going to make their homes, at the village or in the forest, closer to me. I like that they move close to me. Storma and Luco are still looked at as the leaders, and they hand out tasks that are completed with a smile. Arrow is consulted on everything for the forest and in charge of training the others in medicines and food. He enjoys this job. Soon, work is underway on new homes for them all, with the design of Arrow’s nest the most appealing. But Mercou finds ways to improve it.
Even Curly is happy with her new home, and her brothers and sisters have adopted the herd as their family too.
Everyone seems happy, rested, at peace…
Except Arrow.
As the herd work and play, Arrow wanders off. But he doesn’t do the things he used to enjoy: fly along lianas, hang with the sloths, swim in the river.
He takes long walks around the forest, searching…
He peers at leaves.
He touches buds.
He sifts through soil.
Curly tries to drag him into playtime with her brothers and sisters, but Arrow smiles with a sadness in his eyes, then climbs to my highest branch and gazes out.
I feel the worry in every one of his actions, the anticipation before each of his breaths.
So I’m not surprised when, over a meal of nuts, breadfruit, and, of course, acai berries beneath my branches, Arrow goes quiet as he holds Ruthie. He feeds her a piece of mango, steels himself, then says, “I have to go.”
Petari frowns as she wipes mango juice from her chin. “What do you mean? Go where?”
“To the Stilts.”
Curly screams from his shoulder, slapping his head. Petari sits straighter, quickly followed by the others.
“Why do you want to go there?” Petari says, wrinkling her nose.
“After everything we did, you want to leave?” Luco frowns.
Arrow hands Ruthie to Rosaman, then waves his arms. He swallows. “Wait.” I can feel the nervousness twist around his feet. “It’s not that I want to go. The pollution is going to come back. The magic won’t last forever. Not unless the people in the Stilts live with the forest like we do.”
“So what are you saying?” Petari asks.
Arrow hugs Curly close and swallows. “I need to go there and stop them from polluting the earth. I have to make them see that they must live with the earth like the Forest Dwellers did with the forest.”
Silence trembles over the children.
I feel it too. I don’t want Arrow to leave. And yet…
“You’re right,” Petari says. “I don’t like that Fenix is polluting everything and the Stilts people are letting it happen, but maybe they don’t know.”
“They know,” Luco says. “At least some of them do. And the others don’t care.”
Murmurs of agreement come from the other children, but Arrow stands up.
“It doesn’t matter what they did in the past. What matters is what they do now and going forward.” He glances at me and the other trees nearby. “I can’t let this forest die. I won’t. It has to stay alive for a long time, for us, for Ruthie, for every creature here. But even if we stay hidden away, we’ll still be affected by the cities outside. I have to make the humans in the Stilts understand.”
“But you can’t leave,” Delora says. “We need you here. Those people don’t need you.”
Arrow talks a deep breath, his shoulders sagging. “I don’t want to go, but I also don’t want the Anima to be in danger anymore. Pollution is already coming back in.”
He smiles a sad smile. “You can take care of the Guardian and the forest. I trust you. But out there…” His eyes gaze toward the north. “We’ll never be completely safe until that pollution is gone. And besides, the Guardian hoped that one day the forest wouldn’t have to be hidden behind a curtain. Won’t that be a good day?”
There’s a silence in the forest, all the children and animals soaking this in, until I say, “Yes, Arrow. That will be a good day.”
Curly whimpers, curling around his neck.
The children look at one another, uncertainty thick between them.
Petari stands. “I’ll go with you.”
“No,” Val says. “You should stay. I should go. I’m the one Dad taught about the trees and stuff.”
“He taught me, too.” Petari crosses her arms. “And besides, these guys need you here to help, right?”
Luco shrugs. “We can always use your help, Val. But I think Arrow’s mission needs you more.” He turns to Petari when she opens her mouth to protest. “It needs both of you. But you three can’t go alone. It’s too dangerous.”
Petari rolls her eyes. “I can take care of myself. And them.”
“Remember what you said about being part of a team?” Arrow chuckles.
“Okay.” Petari sighs, but she’s smiling.
Storma stands. “I’m going with you. Not that you need a bodyguard, tough one.” She winks at Petari. “But I’ve got friends there who can help.”
Petari grins. “Brill.”
“Thank you,” Arrow says, but a sadness still seeps from him. “What if we can’t get them to listen?”
Storma stalks over to Arrow. “Kid, you convinced me. And if you can convince me, you can change the whole world.”
* * *
The next morning, as the sun rises, Storma, Petari, Val, and Arrow say their goodbyes. Curly clings to Arrow’s ankle, but he tells her she has to take care of the herd until he comes back. The monkey looks around at the children, nods, then jumps into Delora’s open arms.
“Be quick and be safe,” Luco says.
“We will.” Storma smiles, then the group leaves their camp.
Before they head toward the north curtain, Arrow takes them west
, to the place he loves, to his home.
“I won’t be long,” he says, then scurries up my mother’s branches.
“Hi, Mother,” he whispers, a small smile crossing his face as he runs his fingertips over his nest. He reaches down and pulls out the knife he had kept in its folds, the knife the monkeys had collected after the Forest Dwellers left, the knife my mother had told him to use to carve his arrow in her bark. Then he turns, finds the lines of the arrow, and whittles the section away. Holding the piece of bark in his palm, he says, “I will always remember who you taught me to be, Mother. And you’ll always be with me.”
He begins to put the knife back into the folds of his nest, but reconsiders and stuffs it into the pocket in his shorts instead. Then he leans to my mother’s trunk, kisses her, and climbs down.
“Okay,” he tells the others. “I’m ready.”
“About time,” Storma says. “At this rate, the Stilters will pollute the whole world before we get there.”
“Really?” Arrow asks, anxiety pulsing from him.
Storma laughs. “I’ve got to teach you about sarcasm.”
Petari and Val laugh too. Arrow smirks and says, “That could be difficult.”
And he chuckles with them.
When they get to the north curtain, I check the soil outside, but there are no footsteps. I open a small hole for them to go through.
“I will miss you,” I tell them. “But the curtain will always be open to you.”
“I’ll miss you too, Guardian,” Arrow says, before they walk through. “Take care of the forest.”
“I will.”
I feel for their footsteps for as long as I can, until finally, they are too far away in the dusty earth.
Arrow, the boy who was named for being straight and true, is right: We won’t be safe until the whole world lives with us. As hard as it is to let him go, this boy, this human who doubted himself then saved us all, I know that I must. This is his destiny.
My mother, the Guardian of the forest, would be proud.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This story came out of a few pieces of inspiration that all happened around the same time. A boy with one hand who lived in a tree popped into my head, but I had no idea what this boy’s story was. Then I saw a TED Talk by Suzanne Simard, a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia, on how trees in a forest talk to one another (TED.com/talks/suzanne_simard_how_trees_talk_to_each_other), and I knew I wanted to share this with the world. Around that time, construction crews around my neighborhood were tearing down trees to make way for more apartment buildings, a hideous noise I couldn’t keep out of my ears.
These three things gave life to this story, but really its birth began when I was ten and first went into the Amazon. My family is from Guyana, where I was born, and my parents grew up with the rainforest, rivers, and creeks of South America in their backyard. Unfortunately, my family’s safety was threatened due to political problems in the country, and we were forced to leave when I was very young. The last time I was there, I was ten, but the trip impacted me for the rest of my life, especially when we went into the “interior,” as the rainforest is locally known. Sitting on the edge of the boat as we floated down the river weaving into the Amazon, I was in awe of the enormous trees, the songs of the brightly colored birds, and the smell of the soil, flowers, and animals. I also loved when we stopped to give supplies to the AmerIndian tribes living inside the forest. They had big smiles and even bigger hearts. Even though I’ve lived most of my life away from Guyana, the country and its rainforests are a large part of my early years and will always have a place in my heart.
Most of the rainforests in Africa and Asia have been destroyed, and while much of the rainforest in South America is still intact, a lot has been taken for cattle ranching, logging, agriculture, oil, mining, and more. After much destruction, Guyana put environmental laws in place in 1995 that have helped—some of my cousins work with rainforest conservation organizations there—but in Brazil’s portion of the shared Amazon, less than 20 percent of the rainforest is officially protected. And with every election, the Amazon’s future could change for the good or the bad. Indeed, while I was working on this story, Brazil, which houses the majority of the Amazon, had more fires causing deforestation than at any other time in history.
The technological advances humans have made in the first world have given us many benefits, but we have forgotten that it’s the indigenous tribes around the globe who truly understand the beauty, importance, and potential of nature. That became abundantly clear while I was revising this book under lockdown because of COVID-19. A study from Harvard, supported by other studies from elsewhere, found that an increase of only one percent of air pollution led to an increase of fifteen percent in COVID-19 deaths. And while the majority of air pollution is in cities and industrialized areas, studies have shown that air pollution doesn’t stick to boundaries but instead travels across the world, potentially damaging the immune systems of every person on our planet. Plus to survive COVID-19, people needed medicines, a lot of which are found only in the rainforests. Saving our rainforests is not just about helping the environment, although that should be reason enough. It’s about helping humans thrive.
Thankfully, I see a lot of reason to hope for improvements in our future, thanks to such child activists as Isra Hirsi, Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez, Ayakha Melithafa, Jamie Margolin, Autumn Peltier, Helena Gualinga, and Greta Thunberg, among so many others around the world. Children like these have been leading the charge to protect the environment and stop further damage to our planet. Xiuhtezcatl in particular talks about how the connection he has with the natural world, born from his indigenous Aztec culture, influences his work and ideas, and how important it is for people to return to living with the earth. These people have been working hard for years to change minds and policies to save our earth—and they are still young. They inspire me and make me feel encouraged that we can have a better connection with our beautiful world in the future.
For now, this novel is my love letter to trees, the rainforest, and the people we should be learning from every day to help our world flourish—a hope that as we humans grow, we do so in partnership with nature’s ecosystem and not against it.
RESOURCES
While Arrow is a work of fantasy, many aspects of the story are based on fact. Pollutants around the world are damaging our most precious resources, and the effects aren’t felt just locally. Evidence shows that pollutants travel through the air, down streams, and across oceans, carrying dangerous chemicals far away to other parts of Earth. When you think about it on these levels, you can see that Earth, our home, is really quite small.
We are all part of an ecosystem in which we depend on one another to survive and thrive. We need good air to breathe, and trees help to clean the air. We need good soil, so trees and plants can grow to give us food, medicines, and that clean air. We can still have cities and cars and industry, but if we live smarter, we can also save our planet.
We must all do our part to protect Earth, for ourselves, for our neighbors across the sea, and for those who come after us. Luckily, there are lots of places where you can learn about rainforests and lots of things you can do, big and small, to help preserve our environment. A partial list is on the next page, including resources about limb differences like the main character’s in this book. For a longer list and other downloadables, go to SamanthaMClark.com/Arrow.
The Nature Conservancy’s Nature Works Everywhere program (Nature.org/en-us/about-us/who-we-are/how-we-work/youth-engagement/nature-lab/elementary-lesson-plans) has lessons, including videos and downloadables for multiple grade levels.
Fridays For Future (FridaysForFuture.org), started by teen activist Greta Thunberg, helps to organize Friday strikes to raise awareness for environmental protection issues.
Soils4Teachers (Soils4Teachers.org), from the Soil Science Society of America, teaches about the importance of soil and how to protect it.
> The Rainforest Alliance (Rainforest-Alliance.org) supports the protection of rainforests around the world and has school curricula, games, and activities.
The Mongabay environmental science and conservation news platform (Education.Mongabay.com) has a resource center for children.
Earth Day Network (EarthDay.org) brings people together to take action to protect their world, including Earth Day on April 22 every year.
The National Audubon Society (Audubon.org/get-outside/activities/audubon-for-kids) works to protect natural ecosystems and has resources for kids.
National Geographic Society (NationalGeographic.org/education/classroom-resources) uses science, education, and storytelling to promote and protect the wonders of our world, and it offers classroom resources and publishes the Explorer magazine, aimed at children.
Don’t Hide It, Flaunt It (DontHideItFlauntIt.com) encourages acceptance and understanding by celebrating the differences in people of all ages.
Shriners Hospitals for Children—Northern California (ShrinersChildrens.org/handdifferences) has a list of resources about congenital hand differences that was created by Sarah Tuberty.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Just like a rainforest is an ecosystem, where everything inside needs the others to survive, this story received a lot of help on its way to becoming a book.
I couldn’t be more grateful to the team at Simon & Schuster for their support and love of Arrow. Thank you to my incredible editor, Sarah Jane Abbott, and publisher Paula Wiseman at Paula Wiseman Books for seeing the potential in this story early on. Together with art director Laurent Linn, managing editor Morgan York, and production manager Chava Wolin, they helped Arrow become a book I could only have dreamed of. Thank you also to all the sales, marketing, and exhibits staff at Simon & Schuster, not to mention all the administration staff who take care of Simon & Schuster’s authors. I feel incredibly lucky to be part of your family.
A big thank-you to illustrator Justin Hernandez, for wrapping Arrow’s story inside such wonderful art.
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