Yes, the tale behind each of those covers is the same one, although the languages in which it is told may differ. This is a story for any age reader, from kindergarten on up. I get fan letters from adults who buy it for themselves. It tells of how a bird’s commitment brings life to a barren mountain – but it’s also about wanting to stay with something forever when that’s impossible. Educators have found many ways to use this book – as have clergymen, grief counselors, and therapists in general. The story has been offered as a dance-drama by a children’s theater in Boston, and as a shadow-puppet play by a gamelan in Vermont, and a play created by kindergarten students in Changsha, China.
Teachers, parents, and students of children’s literature may want to check out a thought-provoking article comparing the values of THE MOUNTAIN THAT LOVED A BIRD with those underlying THE GIVING TREE, a book that deals quite differently with some similar themes. You can read the article on the web.

First published by Picture Book Studio in 1985 with illustrations by Eric Carle, the title was later acquired by Simon & Schuster. That version remained on sale through April 30, 2007, after which – by terms of an agreement its publisher and I signed the previous spring – all rights revert to me. But even earlier, I had regained the unused translation rights and was starting to make adventuresome use of them.
I’ve long been proud of the way this story is loved not just by readers here, but in many other cultures. Translations of the story have been published earlier in a number of countries using the original Carle illustrations. For a 1989 Russian edition I arranged myself, however, new art was created by David Khaykin. This story was the first contemporary American children’s book to be published in what was then the Soviet Union – and 300,000 copies were printed. They sold out within one year!
In the spring of 2003, even as Americans were invading Iraq, there was a new edition that seemed to me almost a miracle. In Pakistan – a Muslim country with considerable ambivalence about the invasion – a non-profit group of educators published a new edition of this story, using gentle and pleasing illustrations by Adeel-uz-Zafar. The printing costs of this book – a story written by an American, published at that point in history – were underwritten by a donation from an Arab oil company!

It was encouraging while developing this book and a subsequent edition of ROXABOXEN in Urdu to get to know others who are working to promote modern and secular education, and bringing quality education to underprivileged children in rural Pakistan. One truly admirable non-profit organization based in the U.S. is creating such schools in areas that need them - you might want to see what they are doing by visiting the Ibtida website.

The appearance of the Tulika edition with Stephen Aitken’s art, more recent, is a major event that continues to spark spread of the story. I’m thrilled that more than two decades after this tale was first published, it is finally having chances to appear with the kind of art I have always hoped it would have: images that tell the tale along with the words. Words can tell how the seed in the story sends down roots. Art can show that and more. See how Stephen Aitken lets you see how the stream of the mountain’s tears brings water to those roots! In the spring of 2006, Tulika published the book not just in English, but in translations into Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Guajarti, Marathi, Urdu, and Bangla – a total of ten languages. While I hope there can soon be a new U.S. edition with art just as lovely in the U.S., I can already offer the English- language edition of this story printed in India to schools I visit, and you can buy copies through the website of Tulika Books, the admirable publisher in India for which the art was developed. The price given on the website includes postage from India! You can see more of this new art at Steve Aitken’s website – and learn more about the artist and his other books there too.
The art Stephen first developed for India has now been used by a publisher in Lebanon, where an Arabic translation using the new illustrations has been released by Dar El Ilm Lilmalayin for distribution in all the Arabic-speaking world. This edition’s cover is slightly different, combining Aitken’s image of the mountain with that of the bird. An edition in Turkish also using Aitken’s art is now offered by KÖK Yalyincilik Publishing House, a publishing house in Ankara, Turkey.

Much as I love Stephen Aitken’s deeply-felt art, I recognize there are always alternate ways to illustrate any story successfully. On November 11, 2006 – during my first visit to Manila – I helped celebrate the launching of an edition in English and a total of five translations into other languages spoken in the Philippines, with art by a long-time friend – illustrator Beaulah Taguiwalo – that draws its beauty from the local landscapes. You can read more about that joyous day on my report of my 2006 trip to Asia – lavishly illustrated by photos. The report begins, by the way, by showing my visit to the very spot on Mount Rainier where the story of THE MOUNTAIN THAT LOVED A BIRD was born.
My next stop on that long trip was China, where I signed a contract with a major publisher there authorizing a Chinese edition with Stephen Aitken’s art. The kind of picture books so familiar in the West are still very new in China, but Hunan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House – which I confidently expect will soon be established as China’s leading publisher of picture books – intends to change that. We are very lucky to have found this extraordinary publisher.

I had such a wonderful time with the staff of this new publisher! They were already sharing the story with a local kindergarten that November, and I came home with drawings the children there gave me, showing how they imagined the mountain and the bird. On my return, e-mail allowed us to create a global team that set to work to issue the new book with no delay. “Galen” in Changsha (my trip report has photos of her!) orchestrated the remarkable effort. She and other staff members in China, Stephen in India, our translator Zhou in Germany, and I in the U.S. worked together through the holidays to prepare a book that could be printed and ready to share before a January 2007 book fair in Beijing. Stephen created a new cover for their edition, and he and I wrote a special preface. Meanwhile, efforts by our publisher helped make the new title enter the market with a splash. The questions e-mailed me by a reporter for the newspaper “Publishing Today” (which seems to be the Chinese counterpart of our “Publishers Weekly”) elicited a long "virtual interview" that promptly appeared in that publication!

Since then Stephen and I have working to let this story reach new parts of the globe. I’ve just finalized a contract with Mkukii na Nyota Publishers that will let our version of the story enter yet another continent. I first learn of this remarkable publishing house from a returned Peace Corps volunteer, who showed me the books they distribute. You might want to look at their list of present children’s books. The press offers books for adults as well.

Walter Bgoya, head of this publishing house, is a man of remarkable energy, creativity, and resourcefulness. He hopes not only to distribute his own editions in Tazania, Kenya, and other nations in East Africa, but to see if he can (through sub-licenses or co-productions with contacts he has with other African publishers) share the story in West Africa as well. I can guess what a challenge it will be to bring books to all the areas we hope to reach, but am confident that if anyone can do it, Walter can. I can’t exaggerate how much I’m enjoying working with him.

I hope before too long to be able to share news of a new edition developing in the U.S. Meanwhile, Stephen Aitken and I are starting to work out the details of new agreements with another publisher in Africa: New African Books, based in South Africa. This publisher also plans to share the story in translation to a number of languages used by those living in that area.

There is no clear end to what may yet come. This long-popular story is suddenly taking wing with elating new energy. I’m grateful beyond words to its recent artists, and to other friends around the globe who are helping to let me share it this way!