Told in the style of Native American Creation Folktales, Why The Birch Is White is a creative story, written to help teach young readers about the dangers of not being satisfied with who they are. Vanity can bring permanent yet painful changes. Wishing to be more special than the other trees in the forest, the little brown birch learns this lesson the hard way.

Joan Moses has developed many classroom enhancements. Joan created a process for oral storytelling while writing Why The Birch Is White which she named, Native American Bead Stories. She uses this method as a teaching tool in the classroom. The instructions and list of materials needed are included in this book.