Positively Powered with Amy Collette Featuring Marilee Ross

Marilee Ross took the true story of her mountain community’s struggle with losing their treasured trees and crafted a touching book about friendship, gratitude, and the power of encouragement. Her book, The Spirit Tree, has been called “a children’s book for all ages.” Adults say, “My son or daughter loved the book, but I sat there crying.”

The Spirit Tree – Marilee Ross

One of the very special trees was turned into a beautiful carved bear that now greets everyone who enters the property. When Marilee sat down to write up the report about the changes that had taken place, she said, “All of a sudden a voice came to me. ‘You have to write this story from my point of view.'” Marilee said, “I never had this happen before. A tree was talking to me! But absolutely, I knew it wasn’t my story, it was the story of what happened in the forest.” So instead of writing an ordinary report about why the trees were cut down for fire safety, she wrote about what happened from the point of view of the tree and his forest friends.

When the bear was presented and Marilee read the story to the community, the reaction was incredible – people were crying and hugging each other. It wasn’t long until her beautiful story became a published book called The Spirit Tree.

In this intimate interview, Marilee shares how she was inspired to appreciate nature as a child, and reads some of the lyrical poems from the book. Enjoy!

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