The Tree
Mr. Kind
Independently Published (2026)
ISBN: 979-8185209721
Mr. Kind uses a unique lyrical rhyme style paired with vibrant, imaginative artwork to create stories meant to last for generations. His books blend wonder, gentle life lessons, and memorable characters that inspire both young readers and the adults who share the stories with them.
Mr. Kind lives with his wife and his son in Nosara, Costa Rica.
What is The Tree about, and what inspired the story?
The Tree is the very first Mr. Kind Story ever written. It is a fable, but it is also a fairytale, an adventure, a waking dream, a flight of imagination nuanced with entertaining touches of irony and absurdity. It is a story just to tell a story: a story for fun, for everyone. Thirty-one years ago, I was an early admissions high school student sitting in a public speaking class at the local community college. The first assignment was to write a story to tell the class, and this is what I wrote. There were some, but very few, edits or changes necessary to the original story to produce the text that is used. I wrote it with the concept of a Winnie the Pooh-inspired struggle (here between a rhino and a bird), but I also wanted to create a story inside a story, and that is the concept of the bird’s journey and the progressive action and classical import of a princess, knights, a monster, etc. I had developed some acting experience by that time, and I wrote the story as a performance piece. To this day, it is absolutely the most fun of all the stories to tell. The audiobook with original score and sound design will be available soon. The rhino sounds like an exaggerated Eeyore and the bird like Mr. Farley from the old sitcom.
There’s a single tree in the middle of an empty desert. What does it mean to the animals out there?
The tree is life, and the only tree is where everything would happen. It’s special, unique, purposeful, and where the bird makes its home. There is a simply magical, rather dramatic sentiment instilled with the vision of a single tree within a sprawling, charred desert, and it allows a reader to focus on the central scene while comfortably accepting the oddness of the situation. Sometimes when telling a story, particularly one that doesn’t rhyme, I find it most comfortable to begin with a poetic representation. The opening geographical description of Tina’s Trumpet is another example and even in King of the Moon, the introduction is a message directly to the reader before the story begins in rhyme.
The rhinoceros has an ivory horn of magic, and it’s the same horn that gets him stuck. What is that horn to him?
The horn is the rhino´s magic. The ivory horn of a rhino has been viewed as a magical item in many cultures. By being described as magical in a fundamental sense, the reader is intended to place upon it the importance it deserves while the mysticism that it has created throughout history is undeniable. The rhino cannot be without the horn. Rightfully then, the horn is the basis of the story’s conflict, a conflict that finds resolution only with the freeing of the horn.
The bird sits up in his nest trying to sleep while the rhinoceros wears himself out on the tree below. What’s the difference between those two?
It is made clear in the story that the rhino is unaware of the bird and that the bird has silently suffered for three days, yet nothing would be done until someone spoke up. Once one of the two expressed themselves, the courtship of solving the problem could begin. So, there is a subtle message that is intended to glorify patience and communication, but it is inarguably humorous and sets the stage for the irony to be presented in the reader’s subsequent realization about the history the bird and the rhino share.
The bird takes his glasses off and says he’s not so sure he wants to help this time. What is he weighing right there?
This is the realization of which I was referring to in the previous answer. Here, irony and absurdity come together with a realization intended to be fun and funny. It’s at the delivery of this line that the clever reader will realize that this is not the first time the rhino got his horn stuck in something. Nor is this the first time the patient yet irritated bird has had to help the rhino, and it is that patience that allowed the bird to bear more than one sleepless night before hearing the plea from the rhino, chirping up, inspecting the situation, and ultimately attempting to find a solution. In a way, the bird represents patience itself, at least in respect to how he knows the rhino.
The bird hops down onto the rhinoceros and makes a few measurements before flying off. What makes him the one who can actually fix this?
I have always wondered at the rhinoceros in the wild, and when initially conceiving the story, I thought about how these massive creatures are often accompanied by much smaller birds who spend time feasting on the parasites that naturally exist on the rhino. But if we wipe the empirical to the side and instead embrace the wildest parts of a child’s imagination, The Tree takes the shape of a fable as to why, when you see a rhinoceros, it probably has a bird on its head or its back.
The bird heads south to see friends, and the wind drops him somewhere dark and cold. What does he find out there that he couldn’t find at home?
When the bird flies off to find a solution, he does so intentionally. There, in the desert, was nothing he could use, but the leaving had nothing to do with what the bird was going to get. The bird leaves in a specific direction, headed south, to warmth. By having the winds force the bird off course, I was able to present a tremendous change to another setting, another world. A world of men and action where the bird didn’t speak, but instead instinctively solved the conflict within the conflict. By defeating the monster with the princess’s hair, the knight was allowed a moment to give thanks and, in turn, offer a solution for the primary problem. Regardless of where the winds blew, the bird was on a mission and had no intention of returning without a solution. Yet, the moment the solution was grasped, the bird was quick to fly back to the animal world where it was warm. The transition between the primary story and the story within that story is marked by the weather. First, the winds that blow the bird off course, and then the single split-page illustration of the bird flying, while grasping the metal tool, from the cold and darker side of the men to the side of the sun and warmth, the side of the animals where he may free magic.
Men outside the castle carry swords with handles made from a wish. Where did that come from?
This is a story very much about magic and unexpected things, including unexpected magic. When describing the soldiers or knights of this alternate world, the classical concepts of armored chivalry are coupled with the mysticism of magic swords, and what could be more magical than something made from a wish?
The bird takes a strand of princess hair instead of anything sharp. What does the hair do that a sword couldn’t?
Here, again I am relying on the reader to embrace the illogical logic of a place so magical that a strand of purity in the form of princess hair is able to melt, simply by a gentle touch, a monster who effortlessly brushes away swords and arrows while simultaneously accepting that the bird instinctively knew where to go and what to do.
The mist clears, and what’s standing there isn’t what anyone expected. What do you want a child to feel at that moment?
This is a grand tale of extremes, and when the yellow mist sets in and the monster is arched back with skin dripping off, I admittedly was looking to strike a slight chord of fear as a run-up to then emotionally tickle the reader by incorporating a very unexpected transformation that should change every fearful face into a smile.
A man kneels and holds out a pick to thank the bird. Why does the bird want nothing to do with being thanked?
From the moment the bird is cast into the world of the men, it just wants to go back to where it is warm. The bird just wants some sleep. The entire time the bird spends in the world of men is time spent in inconvenience and forced action. The bird is there to complete a mission and nothing more. The bird has no interest in the concerns of the men. Nor does the bird desire glorification or gratitude, but it is more than happy to be handed a solution (the pick) to then get back home.
The rhinoceros walks off toward the sun with the bird asleep on his back. What do you want a child holding this book to feel on that last page?
A sense of ease and closure, calm and certainty. The way one would after a great journey or adventure, settled in a happy ending. The conflict or issue of the story is presented very light-heartedly as one character helping another using a thoughtful (measured) approach within a calm setting. The reader is then rushed through a radically different world in an intense battle and only then handed salvation. When the bird crosses back from the darker land into the sun, I hope the reader will experience relief and take comfort in the simple concept that now, after all this and that, the bird could get some sleep.
The rhinoceros makes a peculiar “OOOOHHHH, UUUUMMMM,” sound before speaking. How did that help define his character?
The sound you are referring to was created specifically for theatrical effect. It is a major reason why I love telling this story, and it was inspired by Eeyore. The literal delivery of the sound, though, is intended to establish for the reader a very calm and intentional personality for the rhino, which, to add to the haphazardness of the story, is somewhat odd given that he spends his time running around bumping into things. Which maybe is why it fits so well.
The dedication is “To all the little children we all will always be.” Who were you picturing?
What is meant by that dedication is to implore the reader to recognize their inner child. Whether you are reading this alone or with a little one, try to see it from your most elementary eyes, your most whimsical daydream, your greatest childhood adventure. See it with your child-eyes where anything is possible. With this book, I hope to allow you to be a child again, even just for a few minutes.
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