Allen Patterson Jr  , age 10 of Asheville, LA

A giant turtle may live to celebrate 100 birthdays ‑ but he is a mere baby when compared to the oldest living members of the plant world  Some of the huge sequoia redwood trees of California are well over 3,000 years old One of the oldest was cut down and the years of its growth counted from its tree rings  This great tree was a baby in the year 1304 B  C,  which means it was almost 33 centuries old  The redwoods of California were thought to be the oldest living things ‑ until another group of ancient trees was found 

These old‑timers also grow in California, though they are not giants  They are the bristlecone pines in the White Mountains of eastern California  Some are mere shrubs, some are trees 30 feet tall  Many of them are 4,000 years old and some may be much, much older  So far as we know, these gnarled and ancient bristlecone pines are the oldest of all living things