Before we begin I thought I'd let you know that there’s an interview and book giveaway with Yolanda right here. I’m extending the giveaway to next Sunday (midnight MST, international entries, too), so would love for you to stop by and get to know the author a little better and comment for an opportunity to win her book for yourself, your classroom, library, kids...!
And now, onto the book!
Trouble in the Trees by Yolanda Ridge
Eleven-year-old Bree is happiest when she's climbing the trees at Cedar Grove, her urban townhouse complex. She's the best climber around, even better than an older boy, Tyler, who drives her crazy with his competitiveness. When Ethan, a younger boy, falls from a tree and hurts his elbow, the neighborhood council bans all tree-climbing in Cedar Grove. If Bree chooses to ignore the bylaw, her family could be kicked out of their home, so she vows to change the rule instead. After giving a presentation to the neighborhood council, she realizes this is not a battle she can win on her own, but rallying the Cedar Grove troops is more difficult than she imagined.****
When I was younger I loved climbing trees. The biggest issue for me was getting back down. There was the one time...er, never mind.Now Bree, the main character of Trouble in the Trees loves to climb trees. It’s her favourite thing to do. Like some love playing basketball, street hockey or skipping rope, Bree loves the tree climbing. Unfortunately her problem isn’t getting back down. It’s getting to climb them in the first place. Always on the look out for the dark and the dangerous The Neighbourhood Council of Cedar Grove is out to save kids from themselves. So, no more tree climbing. It’s against the law, I mean, by-law. Now, it’s up to Bree to convince her fellow kids, tree climbers or not, that it may not end there. Don’t they know that other sports (and yes, tree climbing is a sport. Check this out.) are more dangerous in terms of injury? Don’t they know that it might not end with the tree climbing ban? They could even go so far as to decide what kind of pet you can have (Mrs. Leary has had quite enough of dogs and their rampant poo-ing).
Will Bree be able to convince her friends to join her in a neighbour hood protest? Let's just say she becomes one of the great unwashed. “No trees, no bath!” Although, I will add here, brushing their teeth would be a good idea given the number of gummy worms that were consumed during the protest meeting. Things might just be looking good for Bree and the neighbourhood kids. Smelling? Not so good.
This is an all around great read for kids 8-11 from Orca Publishers and is part of their Orca Young Readers collection. Yolanda does an amazing job of capturing kids this age and making you laugh out loud and cheer them on as they take on the adults running the council of Cedar Grove. Plus, the over all quality of writing makes this a read aloud dream. I’m looking forward to adding this and others from the series to our library collection and get book talking them this summer. I’m sad that there is no book club this week (we have a big book sale and puppet show this Saturday). But next week...I cannot wait to book talk this to them!
Happy Marvelous Middle Grade Monday all!
Here’s the rest of the crew (if I don’t have you listed, let me know so I can add you!)
- Anita Laydon Millers Middle Grade Blog
- Book Dreaming
- Kit Lit Frenzy
- Middle Grade Mafioso
- My Brain on Books
- Night Writer
- Novel and Nouveau
- Somewhere in the Middle
- Write About Now
Hi Deb! Nice new look to your blog.
ReplyDeleteGreat review. I haven't heard of this, so now I'll have to check it out. Bree sounds like a great character.
Loved climbing trees when I was young. Oh, to be a kid again....
Thanks on the new look Joanne! I think I've finally found one to stick with for a while.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes on Bree...really well developed, believable. As were all the characters in this book--loved them, all had depth and dimension, jumped off the page!
I was a tree climber. Sounds like a good read. Thank you
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this one. I'll have to see if my library has it. :-)
ReplyDelete