The Man Who Planted Trees, by Jean Giono (Harvill, £5.99)

In this famous allegorical fable, the narrator recalls a long journey made on foot through Provence some 40 years earlier. He describes a bleak, deserted. landscape. A chance meeting with a lone shepherd introduces him to the story of an extraordinary character who has singlehandedly set out to create a dense forest region by patiently planting acorns and nursing saplings. Originally written for Reader's Digest in 1953 by the veteran French writer Jean Giono, The Man Who Planted Trees is intended to celebrate the selfless work of a singular man and the way in which his vision restores both a landscape and a way of life. So convincing is the narrative voice that some readers believed it to be a true story; like Saint Exupery's The Little Prince (1945) or Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingstone Sea gull (1972), Giono's tale engages and teaches.