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The title and beautiful cover artwork attracted me to this small book at an independent bookstore in Frisco, CO. We have two serviceberry trees in our yard and so I have observed firsthand how its berries feed so many robins and cedar waxwings and other animals each summer. It is truly an abundance shared. And in return, the birds and animals spread the tree's seeds. Reciprocity! The tree is also beautiful in a landscape design because of its white flowers in spring and colorful leaves in fall. It's truly a giving tree.

In this essay, Robin Wall Kimmerer compares the abundance of nature that is freely given, a sort of 'gift economy,' to how humans conduct their own 'economy,' which is frequently based on scarcity, hoarding and wasteful use of natural resources.

Ms Kimmerer is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and weaves the wisdom of Indigenous People and their close relationship with the plant world into her writing. She quotes a fellow tribal member who wrote, "If the economy requires people to consume more resources than the Earth can replenish, just to keep the whole thing from collapsing, isn't it time for a new economy?"

Some examples of a 'gift economy' would be the Little Free Library we all see in our neighborhoods where people share books. Or how we give away that summer abundance of zucchini and tomatoes from our gardens to our friends and neighbors. Or volunteer our time, or share our talents, or donate clothing, or stock food pantries. This is the currency of reciprocity.

A remarkable little book, enhanced by the beautiful illustrations of John Burgoyne, and giving each of us much food for thought.