Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 2^-6. The original poems in this lovely, simple collection celebrate every aspect of trees in a variety of poetic forms including free verse, rhyme, and haiku. Using the voice of the trees themselves or of the people with whom they have contact, an appreciation for the majestic nature of these everyday things is conveyed throughout. The first poem has an old oak silently introducing itself to a boy, "I've been waiting / watching you / grow taller. / I have grown too. Step closer. / Let's see / how high / you can / climb." Other poems have a child planting a tree for arbor day, siblings playing hide-and-seek, a traffic jam of squirrels, a fallen tree now serving as a bridge, a delightful look at a beaver dam ("that architectural team / with another scheme / to redesign the stream"), a fly-fishing boy who snags a pine, and a willow who, while admiring her reflection, is interrupted by a heron. As with her Great Frog Race and Other Poems (1997), George conveys a deep understanding of nature, here particularly of trees, in a way that is readily accessible to children. Kiesler's warm oil paintings beautifully complement the poems, making for a totally satisfying experience that is sure to be a favorite of anyone who's ever stopped to notice trees. --Helen Rosenberg
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
George and Kiesler (The Great Frog Race and Other Poems) team up for another close look at the natural world with poetry that invites readers to meditate on trees. This time the visual delights described in George's poems slightly outshine the illustrations. The best of Kiesler's oil paintings are breathtaking: a trio of doves tucking their heads underwing in the starlight, browning pumpkin vines in the foreground of a pastoral scene, the moon snagged by a branch in the book's title poem. Often, however, the paintingsÄparticularly those of childrenÄseem to be frozen in time, lacking the energy and vitality of the images in the poetry. George plays nimbly with language and form. Her invented words in "Tree Traffic" seem simultaneously strange and familiar: squirrels are "commuters... rippling up and down,/ tails unfurled./ The treeway is/ heavily squirreled." George also surprises readers with creative rhyme schemes, such as that of "Cooperation," in which two horses, sharing the shade of one tree, stand "muzzle to rump/ rump to muzzle/ like a jigsaw puzzle." Especially elegant is George's description of a spring tree bud, "a tiny velveteen satchel,/ the color of pale cream" inside of which readers can find "one rolled and folded/ neatly packed/ leaf." Dedicated to "the saplings," this leaf-filled collection would make just the right gift for nature lovers. Ages 5-9. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4-Trees in all seasons and used for many reasons are imaginatively captured in short poems and richly textured full-color oil paintings. The delightful use of language plays on the senses as it creates word pictures that are sure to entertain. The selections beg to be read-aloud and shared. Free verse, haiku, and bits of rhymes and rhythms reflect the joy children feel as they play in and about or observe all types of trees throughout the year. A celebration of these mighty living things and the people who love them.-Pamela K. Bomboy, Chesterfield County Public Schools, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
This uneven collection offers a variety of perspectives on trees and how they touch our lives. Some poems describe trees as everyday objects for play (a stout limb becomes a tree horse for the young rider) while others aim for more ethereal imagery (I hear its heartbeat. I breathe tree). Keisler's soft oil paintings complement the introspective tone of the poetry. From HORN BOOK Spring 1999, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
In a paean to trees, George and Kiesler follow up on The Great Frog Race and Other Poems (1997), with a similar specialized collection of nature poetry, loosely organized around the four seasons. An astute beholder, George resists the obvious--acorns, apples, leaves falling--for tiny, honed observations on the knotholes in a fence, a hammock that ``fills the empty space between two trees,'' or a jutting branch that doubles as ``a tree horse'' rather than a tree house. A dozen words or so are bound into small parcels; even as the contents are unwrapped, there is room for the imagination. Told from the point of view of an oak tree or a fisherman that snags a pine, this ode begs comparison to Janice May Udry's A Tree is Nice (1955). Kiesler has lightened her textured oil palette with the new greens of leaves and maple shoots, pale cream buds, and a bright wayward kite against a winter white snow sky. Her figures, particularly faces, are deliberately abstract compared to the portraits of her main characters--trees. A lovely, often luminous, collection. (Picture book/poetry. 5-9)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
