little tree

By Loren Long (2015)

Recommended age: 3-6 years old, 7-9 years old

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Review

This story is one of our absolute favorites. To make that list, a book has to have a meaningful message, be beautifully written, and have relevant, well-drawn illustrations that tell the story as much as the words do. This book has all of that. Additionally, I suspect many adults will read this story and need it even more than the little one they are reading it to.

I don’t want to give the story away (minor spoiler ahead), but I want to give a reason to read it. Without telling the story, its message is about learning to let go, maturing, looking ahead, and literal and figurative growth that comes from embracing change. (As I read this to my little one again and wrote this review, I realized how many times I may need to read this book as my child grows and I constantly beg God to stop time for me.)

The illustrations in the book are beautiful. They are realistic, but softened - not photographic realism, but illustrations that feel like a storybook. The illustrations and pages are uncluttered, allowing you to focus on what matters and feel the emotions of the story. The animals, who, as the title clearly points out, are not the main characters, are gentle and expressive. They’re not cartoony, they convey genuine emotion.

My little one (and I) don’t usually connect with inanimate objects as main characters, but in this book we both did. The tree is drawn in a way that communicates emotion without saying a word and the combination of the tree and the animals as characters works perfectly.

At one point after the little tree decided to let go of what it was holding on to, my little one excitedly exclaimed, “Now the squirrels can go up and down the little tree!”

Cautions

No concerns.