Spoiler-free summary: A biography of Wawona, a giant, old redwood tree, and some anecdotes about the other plants and animals that have lived around it over the years. A simple story aimed at younger readers with a nice environmental message.
Discussion: This opened with a poem that had a modern novel-in-verse style to it, and I wondered if that would be the entire book. But no, it was just an introductory poem, the rest was prose. I then wondered if this was going to be an allegory for something. If it is, it’s not very obvious — this seems to be a book about a tree.
I guess that’s okay, this has a cozy vibe to it. There are interludes between chapters that put Wawona’s age into context, and it is a neat effect. The stories themselves aren’t anything special, but I think this would be a good chapter book for an elementary reader. And I will say, the arrival of humans near the end does truly hit a depressing note.
Would this book be better if Wawona was cut down in the end? No, probably not, but it certainly would drive home the environmental point. It’d probably scar some kids, too.
My next book is my first repeat author on the list – I already did Eloise Jarvis McGraw’s Moccasin Trail, and next up is The Golden Goblet.
Leave a Reply