To The Trees #2

In a movie about a legendary hero and his band of merry men, when under enemy attack one of the patriotic thieves shouts, To the trees!  The trees were a refuge for them and a more strategic vantage point from which to defend themselves. Around the world for centuries, trees equal life for what they supply humans and an array of plants and animals.  I wonder how often throughout time those same three words were uttered by other humans or in the language of birds taking a sudden turn in flight to roost in treetops or of squirrels racing over grass and scampering up tree trunks?

Small or tall, the size is of no importance.  Standing next to a tree offers, for those open to embracing it, a true sense of solitude and strength.  For most of us, they've always been there and hopefully, they always will be.  Two recent publications highlight this almost immortal quality of trees.  In Maple & Rosemary (Neal Porter Books, Holiday House, February 28, 2023) written by Alison James with illustrations by Jennifer K. Mann readers are witness to a remarkable friendship.  In the best, truest friendships, you are never apart, but entwined forever.

Once there was a tree who was very lonely.

She was a sugar maple, so she was sweet and lovely.

The evergreens around the sugar maple didn't talk to her because she was different.  One day, something out of the ordinary happened.  This something climbed into her branches, echoing the maple's feelings of loneliness.  The tree spoke, wanting to know who this was and if they would be her friend.  Maple the tree met Rosemary the girl.

As the days passed, Rosemary visited her every day after school.  They taught each other what they knew about their worlds.  As Maple's seeds spun down from her branches, Rosemary planted them.  When Rosemary left, they exchanged the same words.

One day Rosemary didn't come.  Many seasons passed and Maple was lonely in her absence.  Tiny maples sprouted around Maple, but the familiar creatures walked and flew by her without speaking.

Then, in the autumn one year, a young woman came to Maple.  It was Rosemary.  She was a teacher now at the nearby school.  First, she hung a swing from Maple's branches.  When Rosemary returned, she brought a group of happy children.  She showed them all the wonders around the tree and they laughed and swung on the swing.

Maple grew bigger and taller.  Rosemary grew older and shorter.  She still visited Maple but now she came alone with her book, reading aloud to the tree.  During one of the last times, we see Rosemary visit Maple, she tells Maple something.  At first Maple is puzzled, then she realizes the meaning of those words and the power of friendship.

Author Alison James builds her story on what we know of trees, their endurance and their necessity in the continuance of this planet.  She establishes a parallel between a tree and a human, both experiencing their own forms of aloneness.  Using a careful blend of narrative and dialogue, we see a lasting friendship evolve.  The repetition of similar phrases each time they part, strengthens their bond.  What also strengthens their bond is the passage of seasons and the tree's growth.  Regardless of their time apart, as it is chronicled, their affection is as strong as ever.  Here is a passage.

Maple felt the tug on her branch when Rosemary swung back

and forth.  Rosemary laughed and laughed.  Maple's leaves

fluttered with delight.

"You will always have friends when you have a swing,"

Rosemary said.

"But it is a good friend who makes me a swing," said Maple.

Rendered 

with pencil, monotype printmaking, collage, and digital paint, 

all combined in Photoshop

the heartwarming, eloquent artwork for this title by Jennifer K. Mann radiates those qualities when we first see them on the open and matching dust jacket and book case.  In full color we see Rosemary reading aloud to Maple on the front, right side.  Here the title text is varnished in a cheery red.

The trunk and tree branches continue flawlessly over the spine and to the left, on the back.  The seasons have changed from spring to winter.  Rosemary is now an elder, leaning on the trunk of Maple, her white hair in a bun.  She is holding a stick Maple dropped from her branches.  It helps her walk.  Readers will see a red fox watching in the meadow as an owl takes flight.  

The opening and closing endpapers are autumn orange.  On the initial title page, rows of evergreens stretch across the top.  The field is filled with snow.  Maple stands in the foreground.  Between her branches, the fox walks through the snow to the right.  On the formal title page, we are brought close to the fox amid the snow and dried out Queen Anne's Lace stems.  In the distance the owl flies through a wintery sky hanging over a nearby pond.

These visuals span two pages, full pages, square-like shapes in groups of four, six, and sixteen on a page and two and three vertical pictures on a page.  The sizes of these illustrations and their varying perspectives enhance the text and the pacing.  They fashion an inescapable emotional mood within the passage of a lifetime.  They capture the beauty of each season.  The fine details in each scene are not fragile but as strong as this relationship.  Readers will be looking in each setting for the fox, owl, and robin.

One of my many favorite illustrations is a double-page picture.  It is winter.  Rosemary and her students are under the bare branches of Maple, looking up.  They are waving goodbye to her.  Maple's trunk is on the left and the branches, dark gray and snowy, spread to and along the top, left and right sides, and to the bottom of the left side.  

One of the things we need to remember as humans is to maintain a connection to the living things outside our homes, especially trees.  Maple & Rosemary written by Alison James with artwork by Jennifer K. Mann is a wonderful observation on the natural world and how to establish respect and affection for it.  This story defines friendship in a way you will remember long after the covers of this book are closed.  I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Alison James and Jennifer K. Mann and their other work, please visit their websites by following the link attached to their names.  Alison James has artwork for you to view from this title on her website.  Alison James has accounts on Facebook and Instagram.  Jennifer K. Mann has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.   You can view the title pages at Penguin Random House.

In his newest, expansive wordless endeavor, author illustrator Aaron Becker presents possibilities.  He asks us to examine our beliefs on the relationship between the natural world and humans' place in it.  In this gorgeous, highly detailed presentation of the passage of time, The Tree and the River (Candlewick Press, March 14, 2023), we take a journey unlike any other.

In the beginning, there is the river, winding through tree and shrub studded meadows.  Our attention is drawn to one particular tree, situated on land as the river wraps around it.  With a page turn, our view of that area widens.  A large farm is being constructed of wood on the shore opposite the tree.  We can see the river wind behind this farm and curve to a large ridge of mountains.

We are next brought in closer as the agricultural buildings are expanding and growing in size.  A mill has harnessed the water of the river for its use.  There are more people, adults and children.

Two distinct societies seem to be forming on either side of the river.  On the original side the structures are sturdier and more industrial.  Across the river, this community seems to adhere to the more natural materials and farming.  As pages are turned, there are more and more people, and the modes of transportation are changing.  The buildings are crowding out the land. Walls are built. The two societies are preparing for war.

When we next turn the page, an entire new civilization is before us, perhaps a blend of the two previous peoples and their societies.  The river has been redirected.  Then, we see airships and motor vehicles.  Animals are no longer used for transportation. Lights shine from windows at night. (The landscape scenes are becoming more like steampunk.)  Then, there appear motor vehicles more like automobiles on streets with tree-lined avenues and more individual homes.  

With each page turn now, there are drastic differences.  We go from a space-like scenario to one of flooding and devastation with people only moving about in boats.  The tree is a skeleton of its former self.  Soon, there is no sign of human life.  It is now that Aaron Becker shifts our view of his narrative.  He takes us very close to the tree.  Something remarkable is occurring.

Rendered 

in pencil, gouache, and digital paint

the luminescent, intricate artwork begins on the open dust jacket and open book case.  On the first, we see a pastoral setting with the tree and the river.  Take note though of the reflections in the water.  They foreshadow a possible future.  The title text is varnished on the jacket.  To the left of the spine on a deep cornflower blue canvas is just the tree.  Beneath its branches, a single musician sits and strums an instrument.

On the book case, the image is the same on the left side, the back.  The background is now a deep purple.  This corresponds to what we see on the right side, the front. It is a close up of the tree and the river with a highly advanced society in the background.  The color palette is in shades of purple with glowing lights in the buildings.  This is set against a red, orange, and yellow sky.  An airship floats above a bridge.  This image seems to portray yet another possibility.

The opening and closing endpapers are in two shades of purple.  They show a bird's eye view of the river winding through the natural, untouched landscape, like the rendering of a landscape architect. For the title page, the tree and river are depicted on a single page, close to readers.  With the next page turn, we begin.  Tucked in the lower, left-hand corner is the publication information.  There is also something tucked into the scenery on the far-left side.  What is Aaron Becker trying to tell us?

Readers need to pause at each page turn to study the landscape, the architecture, and the people.  How are they changing their natural surroundings?  What advances in their lives have they made?  Are these beneficial to the land?  Watch how the air becomes different.  How does the color palette shift with the altering landscape?

One of my many favorite illustrations of these double-page pictures is the one between the steampunk setting and the too bright, too busy nearly space-like community.  For this image Aaron Becker uses hues of purple and rust and pink.  Behind the river is a collection of buildings featuring advanced but not too industrial buildings.  There are aqueducts and bridges over bends in the river, which is flowing freely, now.  Vehicles similar to cars move on those aqueducts and bridges.  A boat floats down the river.  There are bicycle riders and a person walking their dog.  Neighbors chat in front of single-family homes.  There is an effort to landscape with trees and shrubs.  In the rosy-skied distance, a plane is either landing or taking off.

This book, The Tree and the River written and illustrated by Aaron Becker, is a marvelous glimpse into the past, present, and future.  It is filled with opportunities for us to question what we believe and to discuss this with others.  Every time I read it; I find something new.  This title will be read over and over.  You will want at least one copy on your personal bookshelves and multiple copies in your professional collections.

To discover more about Aaron Becker and his other work, please access his website by following the link attached to his name.  On his website is the book trailer and a process video.  Aaron Becker has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Vimeo, and Twitter.  Aaron Becker has written a guest post at the Nerdy Book Club reflecting on visual learners.  You can view an interior image at the publisher's website.  At Penguin Random House, you can view the title page and the first few page turns.  At The Children's Book Review, The Growing Readers Podcast, you can listen to Aaron Becker chat about this book.

Growing A Legacy

When you are part of a family with parents like my parents who loved their flower and vegetable gardens, you find yourself gardening with the same optimism  and hope.  Even today with both my parents gone, I find myself continuing to overturn the soil, plant the tiniest of seeds, and know with proper care a flower or vegetable will push through that dirt and make something beautiful.  Regardless of knowing the science behind seeds and the plants they produce, it is still a miracle to me. 

Together as a family we took avocado pits and grew avocado trees.  We planted fruit trees, nut trees, shade trees, and a blue spruce twenty-six years ago in memory of my father.  For every year my sweet Xena has been gone, I have planted a tree to commemorate the joy she gave me.  The thing is when you plant something, it is an act of faith.

Author Anne Wynter and artist Daniel Miyares have collaborated to bring readers a book, Nell Plants A Tree (Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, January 31, 2023), that shows this optimism, hope, and faith.  A single act causes something to happen.  Some might say what happens is expected and ordinary.  There is nothing ordinary about the sight of a majestic tree or the generations of family bound to that tree, each weathering the storms of life.

Before a grip on a branch

and a fall to the ground

and a scrape

and a leap

and a reach for the top, . . .

A child, a little girl, named Nell finds a seed.  Another child, a little girl, does reach near the top.  She and two other children limb by limb scale that same tree to watch in wonder as three tiny birds crack open their shells.  Before those children embrace that tree, Nell takes that seed, now sprouted, and covers it with dirt.

The children use the tree as a goal for racing, racing to see who is the fastest runner.  Sometimes, it is the perfect spot to avoid irritating noise and too-much discomforts.  The trunk of the tree supplies strength and support.

In the right season, the ground beneath this tree is dotted with pecans.  Their shells are opened.  They are used to make the best kind of pie.  Around the tree is a space for discovering natural treasures . . . and something pushing between a partially opened pecan shell.

Before these children, grandchildren, race, find solace, pick pecans for pie, and find riches, Nell tends to the sprout giving it water and sun.  When it is large enough, she digs a hole and plants it.  The tree grows.  Nell grows and so does her family under the branches of a seed that sprouted, was given tender care, and planted.

It is hard to read the words written by Anne Wynter in silence to yourself.  You can hardly finish the first five phrases without knowing these words need to be read aloud.  She masterfully combines two stories in one.  She moves flawlessly from the present day activities of Nell's grandchildren to Nell's finding of the seed and her subsequent role in it becoming a magnificent pecan tree.  Anne Wynter begins each portion of the children's moments with the word before.  She then lyrically describes what they do, followed by a simple statement about Nell.  Here is another partial portion.

Before sacks of pecans

and a crack and a crunch

and a roll and a press

and a mix and a pour

The first thought in my mind when I opened the dust jacket was oh my goodness!  What Daniel Miyares has done is combine several perspectives in this single image.  On the front, we see the girl reading her book in the nook between the trunk and branch of the tree.  The family home is in the distance.  Notice the hues of the leaves in this tree and of the trees around the home.  The lighting is exquisite.  

Rather than have the entire tree cross the spine of a dusty, steely blue, leafy branches bridge the front and back of the jacket.  On the back, underneath the boughs of the tree, a grandmother and her grandchildren pluck pecans from the grass and place them in a basket.  We view this as if looking at them from the branches over their heads.  The colors of the leaves in this scene are darker in browns and greens not touched by the light.

One of the hues used in the dust jacket, a golden cream, covers the book case.  A darker golden orange is used for the spine.  The left side of the book case is bare.  On the front is a small stenciled silhouette in one dark color.  It is of the girl seated next to the tree, reading her book.  Between the center branches, now moved to create a space, sits the house.

For the opening and closing endpapers, Daniel Miyares has fashioned a patchwork of fabric and colors found in his interior illustrations.  On one of the pieces on the right side of the opening endpapers is the sprouted pecan.  On the right side of the closing endpapers, that pecan is now a fully-grown patchwork tree, leafy and grand.  To the left of the tree are the author and illustrator notes.

Rendered using

pen and ink, gouache, and collage

these images by Daniel Miyares are both timely and timeless.  His title, verso and dedication pages show a panoramic view of a grassy area, the pecan tree, and the home in the background on the right.  The children run, arms outstretched, from the left toward the tree.

He alternates between double-page illustrations, single-page pictures surrounded by wide, loose frames, full-page visuals, edge to edge, and two groups of smaller vignettes on a single page.  His viewpoints vary, but ultimately invite us into the settings.  Everything calls to the child in us, the sheer joy of being near a grand tree, climbing that tree, resting against that tree, finding wonders in it and around it.  Daniel Miyares's depictions of Nell are tender and honest.  And Daniel Miyares brings us full circle with his final piece of artwork.

One of my many favorite illustrations is a double-page picture.  The sky is drenched in orange and golden hues seen at sunset.  These colors touch the tops of trees along the bottom of both pages.  On the far left side, branches crossing the gutter to the right and bleeding off the top, is the pecan tree.  Standing on one of the higher boughs on the right is the girl clad in a white t-shirt and overalls. Her left hand clasps a branch.  Her back is to us as she stares into the distance.

Now, more than ever, the value of a tree is essential to life on our planet.  In Nell Plants A Tree written by Anne Wynter with artwork by Daniel Miyares, we clearly understand this, but we also see how one seed planted generations ago can grow into something around which an entire family is built.  It is as if the strength of that tree lends itself to the families.  They nurture each other.  This is a title you certainly will want on your personal and professional bookshelves.

To learn more about Anne Wynter and Daniel Miyares, please visit their websites by following the link attached to their names.  Anne Wynter has accounts on Facebook and Instagram.  Daniel Miyares has accounts on Facebook,  Instagram and Twitter. Daniel and Anne are interviewed at Maria Marshall's Making Nature Fun.  At Max's Boat hosted by Ratha Tep, Anne and Daniel are interviewed.  There is a bounty of images to be enjoyed.

To Start Again

It seems as though autumn has stalled.  Mother Nature does not want to replace milder temperatures with bitter cold.  There have been the typical wild winds and torrents of rain, but the trees are clinging to their green and their leaves. The annual burst of oranges, reds, and yellows have only recently been on display.  In the last two days, finally, the leaves have blanketed yards, sidewalks, and streets.  The familiar swish and crunch now follow you when walking through neighborhoods.

The majestic trees lining roads and populating nearby forests are getting ready to rest.  It is in times like this gratitude for trees is, or should be, foremost in our minds.  With respect to those trees lost this year in wildfires, we must not forget the impact on us and the fauna and flora in those woodlands.  Hello, Tree (Little, Brown and Company, September 14, 2021) written by Ana Crespo with illustrations by Dow Phumiruk, inspired by the 2013 Black Forest fire, speaks through the voice of a tree about tragedy and hope.

I met the girl when

she was a baby . . .

and I was just a sapling.

As both grew, they shared moments together.  The child sought the tree for steadiness, play, comfort and companionship.  The tree did have other friends living in the forest.

One summer night, the lives of the tree and the girl were interrupted.  The animal alarm spread through the forest.  Fire!  Many animals, of all sizes and shapes, left along with the girl and her family.  The tree had no such choice.

Smoke like the blackest of clouds filled the sky.  Fortunately, for the tree, help came as firefighters fought back the flames on the land and in the air.  The battle against the blaze finally ended after many days and nights.

In the wake of the devastation was silence.  Gradually, the silence was filled with the return of people, the girl, clean-up crews, and some animals.  Seasons passed.  Renewal was slow in the forest, but the girl, becoming a young woman, went away.  The tree did have other friends living in the forest but . . .

Hello, tree.

With simple, truthful and eloquent sentences, author Ana Crespo tells a universal story of the relationship between humans and nature, and of hardship and healing.  Through the tree we sense the world in togetherness and aloneness and in sensory descriptions of color and sound.  There are only a few phrases of dialogue, but a recurring mention of wishes and stars ties portions of the narrative together beautifully.  Here is a passage.

Wait as roaring flames breathed smoke into the sky.

And left only a single star to wish upon.

The depiction shown on the front, right, of the open dust jacket continues on the other side of the spine.  The smoky orange of the sky suggests the recent fire.  The girl is as glad to see her tree as the tree is to see the girl.  The visible remnants of the flames are shown in the blackened tree trunks and the destroyed house with the chimney remaining.  On the back, left, two deer stand close to portions of the forest not in the path of the flames.  In front and around them are burned tree trunks.

On the book case, we are presented with an elevated view of the forest.  A spring green meadow is framed by trees in back and in front of it.  A stream winds along the back edge of the meadow.  Several trees stand apart and to the right of the meadow.  Deer graze on either side of the stream.  Two birds glide in the pale blue sky.  This forest is pristine.

On the opening endpapers, on a background of marbled tan, is a pattern composed of birds, butterflies, moths, pinecones, pine branches, flowers (wild and in garden containers), rabbits, squirrels, beetles, a bee, a feather, red ribbons, a mouse, a mailbox, a birdfeeder and three blue eggs in a nest.  Can you notice them inside the book?  On the closing endpapers among a tranquil forest setting is About This Book (publication information), References, and an Author's Note.

Artist Dow Phumiruk begins her pictorial interpretation on the dedication and title pages with a double-page picture.  It's a view of the girl's house in a grove surrounded by the forest.  Her illustrations, two-page images, smaller illustrations grouped on a single page, and single-page visuals were rendered

with Photoshop and include scanned watercolor and pencil textures.

They heighten the text through her adept use of light and shadow and shifting perspectives.  During the fire she carefully portrays the scenes of displaced people amid the scenes of the fire and the firefighters.  The bird's eye view, a two-page image, of the destruction after the fire is deeply moving.

One of my many favorite illustrations is a close-up view of the animals fleeing the fire.  In this two-page picture on the left, the tree with its signature red ribbon still tied from dress-up with the girl is seen.  A chick-a-dee flies overhead as a bear, rabbit, and mouse race rapidly to the right.  On the right side a buck and raccoon are nearly off the page.  Several tree trunks and piney branches are behind them as a larger bird soars in the distance.  You get a real sense of urgency.  You want to tell them to run, run, run.

Every year our knowledge of trees and their abilities increases.  To have this book, Hello, Tree written by Ana Crespo with illustrations by Dow Phumiruk, told through the tree's point of view brings us into the heart of this event.  Two pages at the close of the book provide additional information and smaller framed illustrations under the headings of Fire Begins, Firefighters To The Rescue, Shortly After The Fire, The First Spring And The Benefits Of Fire, Some Springs Later, and Many Springs Later.  Numerous themes are woven into this title making it an excellent addition to your personal and professional collections.

To discover more about Ana Crespo and Dow Phumiruk and their other work, please follow the link attached to their names to access their websites.  Ana Crespo has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.  Dow Phumiruk has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Ana Crespo is interviewed at Cynsations, the site of Cynthia Leitich Smith.  On December 2, 2021 Ana Crespo and Dow Phumiruk will be in an event hosted by John Schumacher at the Bookelicious site.  It is a free, but you are requested to register.

Ana Crespo Presents HELLO, TREE from LB School on Vimeo.

An Enduring Testament

When tragedy strikes our home, community, state, or country, we mark it with a memory. We cannot forget what we were doing when it happened.  Some of the tragedies are profound enough the whole world remembers along with us.  The events in the United States on September 11, 2001, are unforgettable.

The news, as quietly as possible, flew from classroom to classroom at our elementary school.  Adult staff members tried to proceed through the day as normally as possible although our hearts were heavy.  After school we gathered with our principal, many of us tears streaming down our faces.  It seems impossible this was twenty years ago.  Survivor Tree (Little, Brown And Company, August 31, 2021) written by Marcie Colleen with illustrations by Aaron Becker notes those events with an extraordinary story.  Nature finds a way.

A TREE STOOD STEEL-STRAIGHT AND PROUD

at the foot of the towers that filled the sky.

This Callery pear tree reflected the seasons.  From bare branches to blooming branches to boughs laden with green and then red, it shifted with the changing months.  For three decades it grew and lived, untouched.

In September, on a brilliant blue-sky day, normalcy for this tree, its surroundings, and the humans in its city was blasted aside.  Amid the destruction, the tree appeared to be a skeleton of its former self.  Then, hope spoke.  Those clearing the devastation found green sprouts on the branches of the tree.

In its broken, but hopeful state, the tree was placed in a new space.  Through winter and spring, it stayed the same, until new life unexpectedly appeared.  The tree again reflected the seasons for nearly ten years.

When the next winter came, the tree was taken to its original place.  The towers, two, were gone.  The tree was there, a visible, living testament to the tragedy and hopeful strength.  From old scarred, bark smooth growth extended.

The text written by Marcie Colleen reads like poetry.  A single sentence vividly describes the tree's presence in each season until that catastrophic September day.  The cadence stops as stunned as the world was.  Again single, carefully penned phrases (sometimes two) follow the tree's journey, until changes necessitate more words.  We feel the rhythm of the story through the use of repetition.  It brings us back to winter, spring, summer, and fall with a renewed perspective.  Here is a passage.

Two stone blocks were placed in its stunted shadow---

a memorial of makeshift towers in a makeshift home.

No longer stretching tall,

the tree reached deep in the warm earth,

and all was quiet.  

(Please note I am working with an F & G.  My copy has not arrived yet.)

When you open the dust jacket, the choice of hues blankets you in calm.  The illustration of the Survivor Tree as it stands today at the 9/11 Memorial continues across the spine and over the fold of the front flap.  Notice the trunks of the other trees and the similarly colored shapes representing the aluminum and steel lattice tridents on the towers.  As they move toward the sky their shades are muted.

To the left, on the back, an image of the memorial is presented.  It is as if we are standing there.  On the bottom we can see portions of names around a white rose.  Above this is one of the two pools.  The words,

EVEN IN THE DARKEST OF TIMES,

COLOR WILL ALWAYS

RETURN TO THE WORLD

are shown as our eyes move to the top.  Trees in autumn rise in front of buildings and a sky with some clouds.

(If you go to the illustrator's Instagram account you can see the stunning book case as he unboxes his copies from the publisher.)

The endpapers, quotation page, dedication and title pages, pages of notes, and publication information pages are awash in colors depicting the different times of day and seasons of the year.  Floating through them as if on a breeze are leaves.  They, too, mirror the times of day and seasons of the year in their hues.  The title page is a double-page illustration, a breathtaking view of New York City as if we are arriving by water with the Statue of Liberty on our left and the skyline spread before her.  The Survivor Tree glows in front of the Twin Towers.  

These images by artist Aaron Becker were rendered

in watercolor and colored pencil on 300 lb. hot press watercolor paper.

On heavier, matte-finished paper these double-page pictures convey a range of emotions.  Aaron Becker enhances the beautiful narrative by pictorially supplying another story, a human story, within the tale of the tree.  This story follows a family through photographs initially. 

Every time you read this book; you will see more included details in Aaron Becker's visuals.  He employs cutaways to show the roots of the tree.  Seasons blend from one side of the page to the other.  What will each reader see on the pages before the crashes?  For emphasis Aaron Becker alters his perspectives.  We are brought close to the hand caressing the green on the broken tree.  As the tree is brought to the memorial, it is a more panoramic view with lots of sky.  One wordless illustration is breathtaking.

One of my many favorite pictures is toward the closing of the book.  We are close to the tree, it's trunk on the left and multiple branches extending up and out to the right-page edge.  It is autumn.  We can see the leaves tinged with muted red, orange, yellow, and purple.  Their backs to us, a father and his daughter reach toward one of the branches.  The daughter's left hand and arm rests on her father's right shoulder.  Together they touch history and hope.

With every reading the richness of Survivor Tree written by Marcie Colleen with illustrations by Aaron Becker envelopes you.  Viewing this tree's story through the poetic words by the author and the striking artwork, with an added pictorial interpretation, by the illustration creates a promise.  It's a promise we can hold in our hands.  At the close of the book is more information about the Survivor Tree and an author's and an illustrator's notes.  I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.

To discover more about Marcie Colleen and Aaron Becker and their other work, please visit their respective websites by following the link attached to their names.  Marcie Colleen has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Aaron Becker has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.  At the publisher's website there is a video/podcast with Aaron Becker talking about his artwork for this title and a podcast with Marcie Colleen speaking about her writing for this book.  At author, reviewer, and blogger, Julie Danielson's website, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, this title is showcased.  At author and teacher librarian Travis Jonker's School Library Journal, 100 Scope Notes, website is the cover reveal and a question and answer with both the author and the illustrator.

UPDATE:  Please enjoy this Five questions for Marcie Colleen and Aaron Becker in The Horn Book on September 8, 2021.

From Them Comes Life

From their heights, the world spreads before us. (Even when we get stuck at the tip top and have to ask for help getting down.)  When a slight breeze blows, walking among rows of evergreens planted by the Civilian Conservation Corps is like strolling through whispers of angels, a gift from heaven.  Leaning against the trunk of a single tree can strengthen you; the tree lends you resolve and resilience.  Most of all trees hold memories.

With the passing of my sweet Xena, now almost six years ago, two kind-hearted author friends give me a tree with a metal label, Xena's Tree.  That tree and label have traveled with me in multiple moves.  It is now joined by five other trees, one for each year she has been gone.  I am so comforted by the sight of those trees when a dear author friend lost her beloved dog companion, I did the same for her.

Trees freely give to all around them, representing more than we can at first imagine.  BE A TREE! (Abrams Books for Young Readers, March 30, 2021) written by Maria Gianferrari with illustrations by Felicita Sala is a lyrical declaration in words and art about the immeasurable worth of trees.  It explores the similarities between trees and humans, offering us a pathway to be our best selves.

Be a tree!

Stand tall.

Stretch your branches to the sun.

It would be wise for us to root ourselves, be grounded, as are trees.  Human spines and tree trunks both house integral elements necessary for sustaining life.  Can you think of your skin like bark?  I can.

Under the bark are systems upon systems functioning to further growth.  At each's center is a beginning beat.  At the top, the tree's crown, like our hats, gathers, filters, and protects.  What will your leaves do?  Together, the top, the bottom, and what hums in the middle, we and trees are not so different.

When you stand in a forest, you see all kinds of trees.  Together they work, speaking, sharing, and sustaining each other.  Together they help the air we breathe, the soil upon which we stand, and the high winds which howl.  Around the globe trees are home to a multitude of plants and animals.  Can you name some?

Did you know trees reach out to immigrant trees?  No tree regardless of its age or physical condition is ever alone.  Trees know helping other trees strengthens them and the forest as a whole.  Can we not do the same for our fellow humans?  

Every poetic line in this narrative takes readers to a tree.  The words penned by Maria Gianferrari mirror the attributes of a tree.  They are strong, deeply fixed, and all-encompassing in their reach.  Single sentences hold profound truths about trees.  In these truths she asks us to see ourselves in the same aspect.  Here is a sentence.

Beneath your bark

are layers,

such as sapwood,

carrying nutrients

to help you grow bigger

and taller;

and heartwood,

strong as bones

to support you.

When you open the dust jacket you find yourself either gasping or reminding yourself to breathe.  The image spans flap edge to flap edge.  The tree you see on the front, right, of the jacket spreads to the right edge and nearly across the entire back, left side.  The plentiful children with birds among them are both heartwarming and hopeful.  You can almost hear the chatter of the gathered girls and boys mingled with birdsong.  On the back, left, is a single white bird.  Two children, hand in hand, in the grass are watching it.  The grass, roots and communicative fungi end at the flap edges.  On the heavy matte-finished paper all the children and birds are vanished.  In a word, exquisite.

An interior image of a large ancient tree spreads across the book case.  A child in reading among the gigantic roots.  Another is climbing up a rope, as a third one rests a hand on the tree.  Two people are seated in a bench to the right of the tree with a large red balloon tied to the back.  Two birds rest in the branches of the tree.

The opening and closing endpapers are a botanist's delight.  In two shades of green, they feature twenty different leaves and three seeds.  Each one is carefully labeled.  Portions of these endpapers are repeated on the first and final page turns.  Prior to the title page, two children play on the sprawling large branch of a tree.  The boy awaits the girl climbing up a rope ladder.

A double-page image moves from left to right on a crisp white background for the title page.  In a series of five vignettes, we see a child plant a seed.  It grows, grows, grows, and becomes a tree, roots fanning out below the surface.

These illustrations by Felicita Sala rendered

with watercolor, gouache, and colored pencils

are bold but intricate two-page displays with every page turn.  A variety of trees are represented.  Perspectives shift and ask readers to pause, noticing each item contained in the picture.  The four-page gatefold is stunning in the variation between the previous two-page visual and what is revealed.  This is the goal toward which we must endeavor.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations has a wide trunk taking up half the page on either side of the gutter.  It only fills the top third of the image.  Climbing up the bark on the left side is a tiny snail.  On the right side a girl crouches next to a snail, her fingertip reaching to touch it.  For the bottom two-thirds of the picture, we see a vast network of roots and fungi.  Three animals are burrowing among the roots and dirt. 

This book, BE A TREE! written by Maria Gianferrari with illustrations by Felicita Sala, presents the grandeur of trees and their vital place on our planet.  It invites us to learn what they can teach us.  At the close of the book is an Author's Note, Five Ways You Can Help Save Trees, Be A Forest: How You Can Help In Your Community, two pages dedicated to a graphic and textual Anatomy Of A Tree, Further Reading And Viewing and Websites.  You need to make sure you have a copy of this book on both your personal and professional bookshelves.  

To learn more about Maria Gianferrari and Felicita Sala and their other work, please follow the link attached to their names to access their websites.  Maria Gianferrari has accounts on Facebook and Instagram.  Felicita Sala has accounts on Facebook and Instagram.  This book is highlighted at Beagles and Books, Picture Book Builders, and Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  At Beagles and Books is a list of blog tour stops.  At each site you can view interior images.

Maria Gianferrari has climbed fig trees in Italy, stood under stately coastal redwoods and twisted Torrey pines, marveled at mitten-shaped sassafras leaves, colorful coral trees and sawtooth oak acorn nests.  She lives with her family, including dog, Maple, in a house encircled by trees. 

Rooted In Strength

Inside every individual runs a current of confidence.   This current can meander slowly with barely a ripple.  It can rage like rapids running through mountains.  Whether it is small and silent or large and loud, it is always there.  

Perhaps, the source of this current is the same for all individuals.  It is feed from multiple sources, some are tiny, others are beyond our senses.  The Tree In Me (Dial Books for Young Readers, March 16, 2021) written and illustrated by Corinna Luyken is a luminescent, melodic observation of that sustaining and binding force inside all of us.

The tree in me

is part apple,

It is not just part apple, but it is parts of other fruits and nuts.  It also tastes delicious.  The tree provides a place of cool and calm.  The tree provides a space of warmth and energy.  

This tree can be many things.  It is beginnings in seeds.  It is endings (and continuations) in stumps.  In between starting and stopping, it is a source of endless explorations and imaginations.  Many call it home.

From the tree comes gifts around it, under it and above it.  Close your eyes and reach out with your mind.  What do you see, feel, hear, taste or smell near the tree?  

This tree is solid, but able to bow when necessary.  It draws its strength from deep roots and a full crown.  It reaches to other trees, to their roots and crowns.  This is true.  You!

Every time the words penned by Corinna Luyken are read, it is as if you are being rocked in the serenity and security of a bed shaped of tree boughs.  The rhythm fashioned by the comparisons is a lasting lullaby.  In these seven beautifully formed sentences, a world within us is revealed. It is a shared world.  Here are some more words in the first sentence.

The tree in me

is part apple,

part orange-pear-almond-plum

(part yummm),  

When you open the dust jacket, the loveliness of the unfolding scene leaves you breathless before you softly gasp in awe and appreciation.  The portion of the crown shown on the right, front, with the child reaching for the fruit, extends over the spine and to the far-left side on the back. From the bottom of the left, slightly off center, is a thick sturdy tree trunk stretching over the spine.  From that trunk, two smaller branches grow, each covered in a gorgeous array of foliage.  The lush color palette of vivid pink, blue hues, golden yellows, and brown here is used throughout the book.  

On the book case the child has moved to nestle within a fork in a tree, other sturdy branches stretching to the top and left.  The crown covers the setting like an umbrella, across the top and down the left side.  In the fork on the right, above the child, a huge sun shines.  It's like a gigantic piece of fruit.  (You could look at this image all day.)

The same shades of color appear on the opening and closing endpapers.  The leaves are much closer to us.  It is like we are looking up at them, watching as light radiates down through the growth.

On the title page, the tree stands tall slightly right of the gutter, branches and crown spreading left and right over two pages.  The child stands in the field of flowers to the left of the tree, looking up at the fruit.

Each breathtaking illustration

was created using gouache, pencil, and ink.

These two-page pictures by Corinna Luyken bring us close to the child, inviting us into each experience.  Sometimes, the focus steps back broadening our vision.  We see more of the tree and its partners.  We see more children.  As their shared joy grows, so does our joy.  The blend of tiny details and larger brush strokes builds each enchanting moment, moments of discovery, growth, understanding, and connection.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations has the crown of the tree across the top.  Along the bottom is a presentation of grasses and flowers.  Both are in the same arresting hues.  The trunk and its roots begin in the lower, left corner moving toward the gutter.  On the right, hanging from staunch ropes is a large tire swing.  It is horizontal providing seating for three children.  They gleefully spin, heads back in happiness and contentment.

Uplifting, thoughtful, and inspiring through words, artwork, and impeccable pacing, The Tree In Me written and illustrated by Corinna Luyken is a book to read repeatedly.  I know it will promote rich musings you will want to share with others.  You need this title in your personal and professional collections.  Share it widely.  Gift it.

To learn more about Corinna Luyken and her other work, please visit her website by following the link attached to her name.  Corinna Luyken has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  This book is showcased with an interview by Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher, on his site, Watch. Connect. Read.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like . . . 2019 #6

It started as a memorial.  It was a single tree; a gift from two author friends to honor my sweet Xena after she passed.  For each year since her death, I added a tree.  On the hilltop, there are now five dwarf Alberta spruce.

The hill and surrounding land prior to the development was filled with trees.  It's now a mission to replace that which was removed.  This summer two redbud trees, a poplar, and twelve cedar trees, of varying varieties, were planted.

These trees will be nurtured but also allowed to grow and bloom as naturally as possible.  This means their perfection will be defined differently than the meaning found in a dictionary.  The Tree That's Meant To Be (Oxford University Press, October 3, 2019 and Doubleday Books for Young Readers, September 24, 2019) written and illustrated by Yuval Zommer honors the beauty and importance of all trees (all individuals).

I

am

the tree

that's meant to be.

Narrating this story, the tree laments its growth, or lack thereof, from the tiniest of seeds.  Its branches on either side are not symmetrically aligned.  Its height is diminished compared to the other surrounding trees.  

The seasons, spring, summer and autumn arrive and leave in their allotted time, until one night, everything is coated in 

snowy white.

People start to enter the forest.  They are carrying tools in order to complete their task.  It seems they are seeking their perfect Christmas tree.  Soon all that's there are clusters of stumps.  The little fir is alone.

In the cold silence of the woodland, the tiny tree cries out for company.  There is no reply.  A question of worth works its way into the little fir's soul. 

The next morning as daylight washes over the wintry scene, one by one, animals creep from the safety of the woods.  They bring decorations found on branches, boughs and blooms.  Carefully they are placed on the little fir.  That night as stars twinkle in the clear cold air, another gift descends, not from the animals, but from the wonder Christmas brings. 

The seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter, arrive and leave in their allotted time.  Years pass.  It ends as it began, only better. 

Read the words of this narrative aloud.  They, as written by Yuval Zommer, sing with a gentle cadence through the use of alliteration and rhyme. By giving voice to the fir in a first-person narrative, readers are drawn to the plight of the tree.  (There is always a time when we compare ourselves to others and feel less than we should.)  By including some conversation, the story becomes more personal.  Here is a passage.

But who would hear my cry?

Who could speak the language of tree?

And understand me?

The happiness known at the end of the book shines on the front of the dust jacket as readers note all the delicate details in Yuval Zommer's signature artwork.  The animals are gathering around the fir and some are bringing decorations.  Natural and seasonal colors blend beautifully.  Many of the elements are varnished and shine with embedded glitter. 

To the left, on the back, the fir, at the bottom, is framed by larger evergreens.  A flurry of forest animals is placed on the sides and birds fly at the top.  Clouds release rain and snow.  Several stars shine in clearing skies.  It's a scene paying tribute to the majesty found in our forests.

On the book case, on the right or front, a marbleized red is the canvas for the little fir tree, standing all alone.  Beneath it, in white, is the text.  On the back, to the left, is a lush forest setting replete with all kinds of trees.  Birds fly among the leafy branches.

On the opening and closing endpapers a diagonal pattern of white fir trees, this little fir tree, is placed on a darker spring green.  An initial title page highlights the text and the fir on a white background.  On the verso and formal title pages intricate items from the forest border the words.  The fir is the center of attention on the title page.

Each double-page picture portrays the splendor found in our forests.  These illustrations are a study in beauty, different kinds of beauty.  Twice, Yuval Zommer, uses those double pages by featuring three horizontal pictures first and then three vertical visuals, second.  His final single-page picture brings readers directly into the narrative.

Readers find themselves pausing at each page turn to seek out all the living things in each illustration.  The eyes on the animals draw our focus to what is happening in each image.  Each picture asks us to step into the scene.  Each picture asks us to respect and appreciate our forests and their inhabitants.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is a bird's eye view.  The air is filled with falling snow.  Green and blue are prevalent in the color palette.  Clouds are layered above the trees.  Single leaves fall in the breeze.  A few night birds fly from tree to tree. Others huddle in tree foliage.  The tiny tree, the fir, stands alone in a small clearing near the center on the right side.  If you've ever walked at night when the snow is falling, this scene, as portrayed by Yuval Zommer, is perfection.

As a representation of the wonder of our forests, of the special magic found during this season and as a tribute to individuality, The Tree That's Meant To Be written and illustrated by Yuval Zommer is excellent.  These words in the dedication

Dedicated to the forest

are obvious in every syllable and line written and painted by Yuval Zommer.  I am happy to add this title to my personal collection and you'll want it on the shelves of your professional collection.

To learn more about Yuval Zommer and his other work, please visit the website found by following the link attached to his name.  Yuval Zommer has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  At the World Book Day site, you can download an associated activity.

Among The Leaves

There are companions, steadfast companions, who never speak a word to us.  However, we rely on them to anchor us.  They are the best listeners on this planet.  We speak to the wind, to celestial beings like the moon and stars, to wildlife, birds and to trees.

For many of us, during our lives, there are trees with memorable significance.  They are located on our property, planted for a purpose, in a park we regularly frequent or a special space we visit only when we are able.  Poetree (Dial Books for Young Readers), March 19, 2019) written by Shauna LaVoy Reynolds with illustrations by Shahrzad Maydani is about one of those extraordinary trees.

The snow had melted, the buttercups were blooming, and Sylvia celebrated winter's end by writing a poem about spring.

Sylvia, carrying her poem, and her pup, Shel, stroll to their park.  Once there it is recited to a friendly squirrel.  Before they go, Sylvia ties it to a large birch tree hoping someone else will enjoy her poem.

Walking by the tree on her way to school the next day, Sylvia is surprised to see her poem is gone and replaced with a new poem.  The tree wrote her a poem!  She can hardly focus in her classroom.  When her teacher speaks to her, another boy, Walt, sitting behind her, teases her.

When Ms. Oliver teaches them to write haiku in the afternoon, Sylvia writes about her tree, the poet.  She makes an origami shape from her poem, leaving it at the tree on her way home.  Day and night, thoughts of the tree and their poems consume her.  A spoken poem, signed with an air signature, and a surprise await Sylvia the next morning.

In her joy at the surprise, Sylvia responds but her happiness is short-lived when Shel begins to bark.  Several more unexpected happenings leave Sylvia changed.  Poetry at the Poetree is a rare and wondrous experience for everyone.


Readers will feel connected to the words written by Shauna LaVoy Reynolds.  We are uplifted by the celebration of spring, poetry, compassion and friendship.  The story offers a balanced blend of narrative, poems and dialogue.  Each sentence reflects warmth and gratitude through descriptive words, sometimes employing alliteration.  Here is a passage and a poem.

Sylvia looked up and saw fragments of sky
peeking through the treetop.  She spoke the
words as they blossomed into her mind:

Sky so blue, grass so green.
Tree so tall in between.
Favorite friend in morning light.
And under moon glow late at night.


When readers gaze at the matching and open dust jacket and book case, the splendor of the tree and the surprise found there are revealed.  The tree's truck extends along the spine with a big "y" at the top as branches spreading to the left, back, and the right, front provide a leafy umbrella.  On the front we are introduced to Sylvia and Shel and the charming birds who enjoy the shelter of the tree.

To the left, on the back, the friendly squirrel peers out of a hollow in the tree's trunk.  He watches several birds, one of which is perched on a decorative ISBN.  It is here on the front and back of the jacket and case, we are invited into the story through the soft color palette and delicate details.

On the opening and closing endpapers, in golden yellow, flying birds and leaves are etched in white.  Rendered using graphite pencil and watercolor, Shahrzad Maydani uses double-page pictures and full-page images to enhance the narrative.  The liberal use of white becomes an element in all the illustrations.

Readers will pause fascinated by the fine lines and intricate elements.  The pattern of leaves on Sylvia's leggings are found in the tree.  These leaf shapes are also found in notebook paper, fluttering on more than one page.  The facial features on all the characters are absolutely charming.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations spans two pages.  On the left, on the small hill, Sylvia, eyes closed, is hugging the tree.  Along the lower-left hand corner is a portion of the poem she has written in chalk on the sidewalk.  Shel is barking next to her.  On the right a flock of pastel-colored birds rise from leaves along the bottom.  A couple of them cross the gutter to the left.  Something is about to change.


In reading Poetree written by Shauna LaVoy Reynolds with illustrations by Shahrzad Maydani we are reminded of the simple but profound beauty of this form of the written word.  It connects us to nature and the most unexpected of friendships.  I highly recommend this title for your professional and personal collections.

To learn more about Shauna LaVoy Reynolds and Shahrzad Maydani, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Shauna LaVoy Reynolds has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  Shahrzad Maydani has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view the title page.  Author Shauna LaVoy Reynolds is showcased at KidLit411.  Author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson, highlights artwork by Shahrzad Maydani from this book on her blog, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  She also has an interview at Chapter 16 with author Shauna LaVoy Reynolds.

If Only We Would Listen

In this new home, to make a back yard space, a fenced-in place for Mulan, my chocolate Labrador, a tree service was hired to remove sixteen trees.  My apologies on that fateful day, to the trees, were profuse.  Trees have always been a huge part of my life.  Climbing to the tops of a special willow and another maple as a child, our entire neighborhood was spread before me.  Swings were tied to their sturdy boughs for hours of dizzy contemplation. Picnics were consumed and game board competitions were played in their shade.  Yellow ribbons were bravely tied all over one particular maple on another street in a different town years later.  A now tall, majestic blue spruce still grows in the back yard of my parent's former home, a tribute to my father.  Author friends sent me a tree in memory of my sweet Xena when she passed away.  The Xena tree moves with me.

The weather here has been unseasonably dry and very hot.  Even though the calendar has declared it's autumn, Mother Nature has other ideas.  Walking outside now, the katydids are singing.  It's still seventy-eight degrees.  There's not a breath of air.  Tears still fill my eyes as I walk up to one of the thirty-three trees remaining on my corner lot.  My arms wrap around the rough bark of one as I lean my head on the trunk and whisper an apology and a thank you.  I have just finished reading Katherine Applegate's newest title, Wishtree (Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group LLC, September 26, 2017).  I am listening.  I know you will, too.

It's hard to talk to trees.  We're not big on chitchat.

Red, a northern red oak, is speaking to us.  Two hundred sixteen rings count the days he has spent rooted to the land on a street near one small green and one small blue house.  Across the street another larger home stands.  This resident owns the little green and blue houses and the tree. You should know Red is the name given to him by his animal friends.  Humans know him as the wishtree.

Each year on the first day of May people come, hang and tie their wishes, hopes and dreams to his branches.  Some are whispered aloud as the paper, cloth, and even a pair of gym socks are attached.  Red keeps all the softly spoken conversations on this day and throughout the year a secret.  It's a rule trees and animals have to remain silent even though they can communicate.  Currently owl, raccoon and opossum babies and their mamas reside in Red's hollows.  Nearby a group of skunks, living under a porch, visit regularly.  A crow named Bongo is Red's best friend in every respect.

This past winter a new family moved into the little blue home.  One early morning at 2am the ten-year-old girl, Samar, visits Red leaving a wish.  She longs for a friend.  Thereafter when she comes to the tree, as the rest of the neighborhood sleeps, the baby animals come to her as she sits on a blanket.  She is no ordinary girl but there are those who do not like her or her family.  Everything is about to change.

One day a boy, an older boy, not known to Red approaches.  He carves something in the tree.  Red wonders if it is an early wish.  It is not.  It says

LEAVE.

Two local police officers investigate, a reporter asks questions, and Francesca, the owner of the tree and two small houses, one blue and one green, arrives.  She makes a decision which shocks and saddens the animal realm.  It rallies Red.  There isn't much a tree can do, but Red like Samar is no ordinary tree.

A wish must be fulfilled.  A story stretching back through generations must be revealed.  A key must unlock forgotten history.  A four-letter word first uttered by one and then by many ignites the truth hidden in hearts.


By page two the first of thirty-two sticky notes was placed in my copy of Katherine Applegate's marvelous masterpiece.  Completely captivated by the voice of Red readers will eagerly embrace the ways of trees and animals learning about names, family dynamics and observations current and over the course of two-hundred plus years.  Red describes his domain as

Different languages, different food, different customs.  That's our neighborhood:  wild and tangled and colorful.  Like the best kind of garden.

Now something has changed.  A Muslim family in the small blue house is not welcomed by the adults in the small green house.  When Katherine introduces readers to the boy, Stephen, living in the green house, she sends out the beginning of hope.

Each of the short but insightful chapters ends with a sentence, a thought, which propels you forward and promotes reflection.  Through the conversations between the animals and Samar and Stephen we find ourselves trusting the unbelievable and wishing, yes wishing, for it all to be true.  And that's the gift Katherine Applegate has given readers with her words in this book.  She has given us the means to make a difference, to be agents of change, and to raise up the beauty found in human hearts and the world in which we live.  Here are a few sample passages.

Trees can't tell jokes.
But we can certainly tell stories.
And if all you hear is the whisper of leaves, don't
worry.  Most trees are introverts at heart.  

Hollows are proof that something bad can become
something good with enough time and care
and hope.

Animals compete for resources, just like humans.
They eat one another.  They fight for dominance.
Nature is not always pretty or fair or kind.
But sometimes surprises happen.  And Samar
every spring night, reminded me there is beauty in
stillness and grace in acceptance.
And that you're never too old to be surprised.


I've read Wishtree written by Katherine Applegate with artwork on the cover and final black-and-white illustrations throughout by Charles Santoso (Ida, Always) twice in one evening.  I have returned to those thirty-two marked passages and read them repeatedly.  Every page sings out hope.  I will be ordering multiple copies to give away at Halloween.  You will want multiple copies on your professional bookshelves and one for your home collection.

A special website is dedicated to Wishtree.  You can leave a virtual wish there.  This coming Thursday is Nationwide Wishing Day.  Read how you can participate.  There is an event kit and a teacher's guide you can download.  The cover was revealed on the Nerdy Book Club by Katherine Applegate.  Katherine answers four questions at Publishers Weekly.  This book trailer was premiered on Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher's blog, Watch. Connect. Read.  You will enjoy the chat there about this title with Katherine.