In her fourth adventure, Bea is going along with her normal life, navigating her friendship with super-smart but socially awkward Judith Einstein, ignoring horrible Bert, her next-door neighbor, and hanging out at the 250-year-old oak tree in their playground. But when Bert climbs the tree and throws acorns at them all - and then gets stuck - an interfering member of the school board says they have to cut it down for safety reasons! Bea and her friends are devastated, but working together with science, poetry, and art, they save "Emily" their tree. On a trip to the national forest, even Bert gets interested in trees when he meets a pileated woodpecker that looks just like a pterodactyl to him! To placate the school board, a fence is put up around the tree, but they decorate the fence and are satisfied that they've saved their friend. Sketches, doodles, and panels sprinkle the book and make this the perfect choice for young readers who aren't ready for middle grade notebook novels yet.
I can totally see this happening - but it still annoys me! Kids SHOULD be able to climb trees without it turning into a giant production, and although Bea is definitely prejudiced against Bert, he also constantly harasses her and her friends with little to no consequences. So, as I said, these are great books but I want them to end differently! It's ridiculous that they "saved" their tree, only to have to put a fence around it and that Bert continues to constantly disrupt their activities and basically runs the classroom. Alas, this is the real world and most kids will recognize their own classrooms and classmates in this story.
Verdict: My own biases aside, this is a fun series that kids love, with copious illustrations and a gentle, humorous message. Recommended for 1st through 3rd grade.
2 comments:
When an outside group was buying trees for our library lawn, my specifics were fast-growing, drought-resistant, and easy to climb. Then one of the board members had a fit because there was a kid in one. THAT'S WHAT TREES ARE FOR!
People. Jeez.
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