Rating: 3.5 stars
I'd love to flip through this book as I review it--that's what I normally do--but it's in Ben's room, and he's fast asleep. Library books usually stay in our playroom, but this book has been in Ben's room for the past week. We read him two books before naptime and bedtime; he gets to choose, and he has been choosing this one. Twice. Twice a day. So...I think it's okay that the book is not next to me, because the images are pretty clear in my mind!
I really want to love this book. If you took away the illustrations, I might give it a higher rating. It's not that the illustrations are bad; I like them. But they just don't seem to complement the text really well. And the text is rolling, but...odd. I don't know. I love the cover, how two families--one western and one African--stare at the same tree. And the book often brings us back to those two families, but it also bounces around all over the globe. Shouldn't I like that the "we" is wholly inclusive? Normally I'd like that, but I think that because the book ends with "We planted a tree and it grew up...and so did we" I think I'd like to see the same one or two families shown throughout the book.
I think I'm splitting hairs a bit, so I'll stop now.
Having gotten out the un-good parts of the book, let me tell you why I do like this book and why it's a really good one to remember come Earth Day or Arbor Day (also in April). The book teaches kids the many wonderful things that trees provide for us: fruit, shade, and even more complicated things (in an uncomplicated way) like enriching the soil to improve a harvest. It is a terrific educational tool for those of you formal educators out there and those of you like me, "just" parents.I found on the cartoonist Mike Lynch's blog a cool sketch of one of the pages, actually my favorite page (but not Ben's--Ben likes the one of the baseball game that looks like it's being played in Atlanta). It's a before, his first rendition of the illustration, and the after, as it appears in the book. Pretty neat! I find the processes of most things pretty fascinating.
Finally, here's a YouTube trailer about the book. I think it's worth checking out (it's only 15 seconds long) if you're interested in the book.
I think pendantic books like this always run the risk of being a bit "boring" or feel forced,e.g., the ending of this book. The message is super important but how to make it interesting to a toddler? I'm glad Ben can be its big supporter as it sounds like it's full of important stuff.
ReplyDeleteBoooo! I meant "didactic" not "pedantic" which I misspelled anyway.
ReplyDeleteWell, I applaud authors who want to start teaching kids environmental stuff early on, and this is a good attempt. Still, I think that it needed a few more drafts before it was published. Why did they not consult me?!? :)
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