Super Spruce is a young evergreen tree living in Norway. Super Spruce is a musical prodigy who is very creative, energetic and strong. An acoustic guitar is slung over its shoulder at all times, because the inspiration to create music is constantly flowing. Super Spruce wears a two-toned wool coat with matching scarf and mittens, along with designer glasses. As a lover of music, Super Spruce also knows how to make and play violins, fiddles, harps, dulcimers and drums.

Super Spruce strumming a song and catching snowballs.

Super Spruce’s Family: Super Spruce is a Norway spruce, Picea abies, which is one of 35 species of spruce in the Picea genus. In Latin, the word Picea means “spruce” and abies means “fir-like.” Norway spruce is a coveted source of tonewood used to make high-quality string instruments, such as Stradivarius violins and Martin guitars. The word “spruce” comes from the 14th century word “pruce,” a shortened word that described the country of Prussia. Prus became a generic name for trees that came from Prussia and Poland, and since it sounded like spruce, that is what the English named the tree. During the 16th century, the word spruce came into popular use as a verb, meaning “to make trim and neat”, thereby creating the phrase “spruce up.”

Growing Climate: Boreal Forests

Botanical Lineage:

Species: Picea abies (Norway Spruce)
Genus: Picea (Spruce)
Family: Pinaceae (Pine family)

Spruce are native to the boreal forests of north, central and eastern Europe. Spruce trees have been found in fossil records dating back 136 million years. Norway spruce, Picea abies, is an important tree in Europe, often identified as a Christmas tree. In fact, the tree erected at Rockefeller Center every year in New York City is a Norway Spruce. Spruce belongs to the larger Pinaceae (Pine) family that includes cedars, firs, hemlocks, pines and larch. Sitka spruce, Picea sitchensis, is the largest species of spruce that grows in the Pacific Northwest and can reach heights of 330 feet. Because of its resilient, lightweight properties, spruce is the standard wood for many musical instruments. The Wright brothers built their first aircraft, named Flyer 1, with spruce because of its exceptional quality.

New Book Coming Soon!

Title: Super Spruce – A Snowy Adventure

Storyline: Super Spruce invites Truthful Tea Leaf and Blissful Bodhi on a snowy adventure in Norway. The adventure begins with an outfitting of downhill skis as Super Spruce sings them a song. They ride a chair lift up a big mountain, admiring all the spruce trees lining the slopes. As they ski down the mountain, they end up taking a wrong turn and fly down a ski jump! They soar through the air, landing gracefully as the crowd cheers them on. The friends exchange their downhill skis for cross-country skis and are soon gliding effortlessly on a beautiful wooded trail. Super Spruce plays a song as they catch snowflakes with their tongues. They trade in their skis for ice skates and veer in circles around the ice rink, doing triple loops and axels. After turning in their ice skates, the exhausted but happy friends fall in the snow and begin to make snow angels. They look blissfully up at the sky as snowflakes swirl like lacy mandalas all around them.