Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Book Review: Wishtree

Author Katherine Applegate gives voice to things that otherwise wouldn't. Her Newbery award winning "The One and Only Ivan" was a first person story from the perspective of a doomed silverback gorilla. In "Wishtree," she takes on an even more surprising point of view, that of a tree.


Red is a centuries old Red Oak that is more chatty than most trees. When two children living in the houses under its boughs are in trouble, he takes a risk and tells them a story to bring them together. It is against the rules, but that is the least of Red's worries. The owner of the houses is determined to cut down the old oak tree to keep its from further invading the plumbing and flooding the yards.

I liked the tree as a character, and the ensemble cast were terrific, from the skunks who name themselves after pleasant smells, the opossums who name themselves after things that scare them, to the crows that name themselves frequently after sounds they like. A very serious story is encapsulated within the romping substories that live within a centuries old tree.

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