The Birthday Tree

By Paul Fleischman

Book Overview

Planting a birthday tree has enduring effects in this poignant tale of a roving boy's link to nature -- and the roots of his family's love. When baby Jack arrives, his father and mother plant an apple seedling to honor his birth. As Jack grows taller, so does the tree. When Jack is happy, the tree limbs stand straight and proud. When he is cold, the leaves tremble on their stems. But one day Jack's parents awake to find his bed empty. When they see a gull perched atop the tree, they realize that their Jack has run away to sea. Paul Fleischman's lyrical prose and Barry Root's magical illustrations tell the story of a boy's powerful connection to his family despite distance -- and adds new meaning to the old custom of planting a birthday tree.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 076362604X
• ISBN13: 9780763626044
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 9.9" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

A UNIQUE, IMAGINATIVE TALE

The words "Illustrated by Barry Root" on a dust jacket immediately tell me that young eyes will find some very special pictures accompanying a story. That is certainly true of The Birthday Tree, a mythic tale filled with birds, landscapes, and billowy clouds all rendered in Root's warm watercolors. As the story opens a sailor and his wife had "lost three sons to the waves," so they are leaving the sea far behind. When at last they reach a green valley where the sailor can no longer hear the sea, smell it or even see it with his spyglass, they build a little house. In time they have another son whom they call Jack, and they plant an apple seedling to commemorate his birth. Jack and the tree grow tall and strong together. In fact, they almost seem as one because "the branches of the tree hung heavy when was Jack sad. When he was happy, the limbs stood out straight and proud...." Although the sailor and his wife never spoke of the sea to Jack they sensed he was curious about it, and one morning Jack was gone. There was a meadowlark sitting atop the apple tree which they took as a sign that Jack was traveling over land. Then one day a white gull took the meadowlark's place and they knew Jack had gone to sea. Of course, they were worried and lonely without him. Their fears were realized one night when a storm came up and lightning struck the tree cracking a limb that fell to the ground - they knew Jack had been in a shipwreck. They could only watch and wait as the branches of the tree drooped and its leaves curled. Finally they couldn't bear to look at the tree any longer and decided to move to a place where people had never even heard of the sea. At this point author Fleischman has a surprise in store for them and for readers as well. The Birthday Tree is a unique, imaginative tale that both youngsters and parents will enjoy. - Gail Cooke