This is clearly the underlying message of this book. After we see the importance of her imaginary friends, the trees and the wind, the main character, a lovely little girl, must move away and leave them. She is heartbroken. She feels that she has reason to cry, but these friends embrace her as only they can and help her understand that life has more beauty than sadness.
The Trees Have Hearts, full of imagery and symbolism, is a lovely story that many children in today's society can relate to and understand. A little girl is happy in her home, a beautiful home with a lovely garden in which the trees become the girl's friends and offer her companionship, comfort, and a sense of security. The little girl is full of happiness. After a summer vacation she learns that she and her family must move. She is, as most young children would be, devastated. She does not want to leave her home and her garden friends. Her friends, the trees, each with a special gift for companionship, offers her comfort and healing words that help her see the wonder of moving as a growing period and new adventure. Even the gentle Old Wind is the girl's friend and he,too, helps her when she needs him.
The book is beautifully illustrated with garden pictures full of color and light. Each tree has her own personality and look. This is clearly shown.
My only complaint would be that the story is too long and too demanding of a young reader. An older reader could beautifully read the book with a youngster and have some wonderful discussions.
The author is Mrs. D. (Olga D'Agostino).
The illustrator is Juli Hasagawa.
The book is a winner of the Mom's Choice Award.
I read the ebook version.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Trees-Have-Hearts-Mrs/dp/1469134799
There are so few books that use nature as the source of the story--I've always admired "The Secret Garden" for glorifying something as quiet as a garden. Nature is powerful, but not always flashy, and we humans, big and small, often take it for granted.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Adrian for those words and for reading my blog. My Owl Summer is all about nature with nature being a major character. My grandson, for whom the book was written, was telling me that his 3rd grade class had just learned the difference between fantasy and reality. He said Owl Summer had both, and he proceeded to walk through the story distinguishing accurately the realistic parts and the fantasy parts. He explained to me that anytime I write about animals talking or understanding human language, that would be fantasy.
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