My Classroom Bookshelf

This book is about a boy and his relationship with a talking tree. The tree gives everything she can to the boy in order to make him happy. The extent that the tree goes through to achieve this goal is what intentionally shocked me. The plot showed the book moral in a very unique way that really sticks to the reader. It teaches about unconditional love a parent may have for their child, which is a wonderful thing to teach and learn about. It would be great to use in a lesson about something being unconditional. This book would also be great in demonstrating time progression due to the fact that the boy ages throughout the story. For instance, at the end of the story the boy is no longer a child but an old man. Despite the fact that the character was now old, the character is still referred to as "boy" or "the boy." This really reinforces the fact that the character is still the same person despite appearances. Thus, time progression. The lexile level is 530L so students should be around the 2nd grade for independent reading.