Wishtree

Hats off, once again to Katherine Applegate, and her ability to share some of the problems of the world with her young, and not so young, readers. Friendship, immigration, nature, and conflict are some of the themes in Wishtree, which Katherine tells with warmth, compassion, humor, and empathy.

The tagline for Feiwel and Friends (the publisher's of Wishtree) is: “Our books are friends for life” and Wishtree is destined to become a favorite book for life of many Applegate friends, both old and new!

Red is an oak tree who has been around for many years, and he has many stories to tell. He understands a lot about the world, so even when a boy slashes a cruel command to the recently arrived immigrant family in the neighborhood into Red's bark, even when a neighbor threatens to cut Red down, Red does not falter or weary.

I liked the story but I didn't love it. It felt a bit thrown together too quickly, I suppose, and Red seemed to lack some of what I expected from a long-lived oak tree. Probably just me.