Friday, April 02, 2010

Feed Me Books Friday - Earth Day Book Idea

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It's Feed Me Books Friday already. Wow this week flew by.

Earth Day is coming up this month and Harper Collins Children mailed me quite a generous package of books. It was like Christmas all over again.


Tess's Tree, by Jess M. Brallier, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

Tess loved her tree.
She liked to swing on it
and sit in its shade
and catch its leaves in the fall.

When Tess's tree has to come down, Tess is very sad . . . until she finds a way to gather friends and family and celebrate her tree's remarkable life.

This is a book for sharing with people you love, among good friends, or on a quiet day under a favorite tree.

The book is about a sweet little girl named Tess who adores a tree. She spends time with her tree, paints pictures of her tree, hugs her tree and acknowledges a heart carved into it with names Tyler and Max.

During a storm, a branch falls off the tree. The next day her parents concerned about the tree falling have it taken down. Tess is very upset and eventually decides to hold a funeral inviting people in the neighborhood to pay respects to the tree. She meets Tyler and Max who are now grow up and married. She receive a photo of her elderly neighbor who as a child climbed the tree often and she ties bows around the "children of the tree" (branches that had come off the tree).

In a Nutshell: It is an adorable book. I love the idea of a book that shows how loved nature can be and how over the years the tree affected different lives. The images are really sweet and the story flows beautifully for the littlest of listeners. It is also a great way to discuss how loss and grief affect us. There is a great message and lesson in here and I feel it is great for ages 4-9.

What I Can Tell You: Godess has asked me to read this to her a few times over the past few days and she loves pointing to the pictures. She has even asked that I ask her teacher to read it to the class. Great idea for Earth Day. There were a few pictures that I wasn't sure how she would interrupt them. Especially the one where Tess is crying in her mother's lap while the tree is being cut down. Goddess asked about it and basically said, "Awww...she is so sad". 


Thank you Harper Collins for the awesome book. We will be reading this for many years to come.


4 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:34 AM

    It's great to receive books for your children. My daughter loves when she gets a new book.

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  2. I love the illustration on the cover. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. My favorite tree book is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.

    This one sounds endearing though.

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  4. Awww, I liked it! What a nice ending :)

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