3.5 Stars

This story begins with an image of a squirrel sweetly hugging a tree, saying:

I love trees.
I love this tree.
It’s MY tree.

The squirrel talks about how much they love eating THEIR pinecones in the shade of THEIR tree.

And then come the worries, what if someone else decided it was their tree, and their pinecones. And what if someone else decided to actually want to eat THEIR pinecones in the shade of THEIR tree or THEIR pinecones in the shade of THEIR tree?

Build a gate? Or a fence? Or even a wall?

A big, tall and long wall to protect THEIR tree and pinecones.

And once the wall is built? It keeps others out, but maybe there are bigger, better pinecones and trees on the other side….

A charmingly illustrated way to introduce the topic of sharing to even the youngest readers. Why sharing is important, and why walls are not the answer.



Pub Date: 02 Sep 2020

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Kids Can Press via NetGalley

This book is a story about a squirrel who is totally obsessed with a tree. He doesn't want to share with anyone, and takes his desire for exclusivity to extraordinary lengths. This book is a bit funny and also a bit serious, but not quite enough of either. There's a lot to talk about, but none of that happens in the book itself. The entire onus for meaning and discovery lies with the reader. I'm not necessarily opposed to that, but I prefer a little more narrative meat on the bones.

It has a "metaphor about borders and migration" thing, but in a way that isn't super helpful. I'm definitely a bit tired of the animal-metaphor-for-human-action. There is a tendency in some children's books (and perhaps other books too, but I basically only read kids' stuff) to be so general in attempt to be relatable that it makes it completely unrelatable and irrelevant. It sometimes seems counterintuitive but specificity makes stories a lot more relatable, relevant, and human.

I loved this book! The expressions on the squirrel's face are hysterical. Children will enjoy listening to this humorous story of a selfish squirrel who wants to keep a tree for himself. It's My Tree would be a great book to read aloud during story time.

Even the squirrel realized that building a wall is not the answer, as you will forever wonder about what is going on on the other side.

What an adorable story! First off, the artwork is whimsy, which I really love to come across. I have a ton of books like that for my kids and they love that style.
The squirrel's story about his tree and wanting it all to himself was adorable but also speaks to the childhood issues of not wanting to share things. I enjoyed how it ended with him questioning what else might be out there and finding more trees and squirrels.
This is a great book to teach children about sharing in a way that they can enjoy and even relate with.

I started off enjoying this book but something happened throughout the book that lost me. It became dull and the ending left me wondering and not in a good way. Squirrel is afraid someone will steal his tree and his pine cones. He goes on this mission to try to prevent that from happening.

This book would be good for children aged 18 months and above. It helped us talk to my four year old about how the squirrel’s choices might make him feel, and realise the enjoyment that can be had from sharing.

The pictures made us laugh, as the squirrel has so much expression!

This was an interesting read. I thought it was going to be a brilliant story about being selfish and then learning to share. It sort of was, but for kids, I think it ended too abruptly and showed, but didn’t really tell the ending or meaning of the story. Perhaps it should be slightly altered to do so.

It’s MY Tree
By: Olivier Tallec
3.5 / 5.0

I wasn’t a huge fan of this picture book. I didn’t like that it didn’t give the squirrel a wake up call about greed and how it is bad for you. I didn’t really understand the ending of the book. It showed a bunch of squirrels claiming their trees too. The art style was cute and the facial expressions that the squirrel makes are great. But for me the message was lackluster for me. There are better picture books that show what greed is, how it can be bad for you and the effects of being greedy.



Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Its-MY-Tree-Olivier-Tallec/dp/1525305476/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=it%27s+my+tree&qid=1591301662&sr=8-1

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/its-my-tree-olivier-tallec/1136271002?ean=9781525305474

This review will appear on my blog on September 1, 2020.

I love trees.
I love this tree. It's MY tree.
But what if one day someone decided that MY tree isn't MY tree but is actually THEIR tree?
A story about greed and pine cones.

A squirrels dilemma. Does he have enough pine cones. Our story time greedy squirrel does not think so. He goes to great lengths to protect his tree and pine cones. This is laugh out loud and what a great way to teach about what happens when we are greedy. Using humor and a squirrel you can't go wrong. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

A Special Thank you to Kids Can Press and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review

I loved the first half of this book, it lost something in the middle and the end. I think there is great potential here and I loved the Illustrations. I think the Author misses a teaching opportunity as the squirrel is still selfish in the end and it is a perfect opportunity to teach about sharing and caring for others.

A charming and thought-provoking look at not just greed (as advertised) but other less savory aspects of human nature. Hard not to think of Trump's wall when reading.

This book is one I think everyone can learn from. I am going to put this book up for an nomination for children's books in South Dakota. I definitely think this book has a place on library shelves and at home. The illustrations are fantastic.

This book is very cute, and the pictures are adorable! The squirrel's emotions really shine through in his body language and expressions.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This is a picture book for children about a squirrel who wants to keep a tree all to himself and eat all the pinecones that drop from it. He thinks of ways he could keep it just for himself but then realises if he shuts himself away with his tree he could be missing out on a whole forest of trees to get pinecones from!

This book teaches children that it is OK to want to keep something for themselves but if they don't share and restrict themselves to just one thing they could be missing out on so much more around them.

The squirrel was very greedy because he did not want to share the tree that he lived in. He made a huge wall so no one could steal his nuts.One day, he wanted to go see what was on the other side of the wall when he climbed to the top. He could not believe his eyes, he saw other chipmunks having their own tree. The chipmunk got so jealous and said what if their nuts are bigger.
It was very funny. I liked it, when he got jealous of the other squirrels.

The premise is good, but the implementation was lacking. It started out as a caricature on selfishness and ownership. A squirrel protects his tree by building a fence, a wall, and an even bigger wall, blocking himself in. While I thought the author would turn it around in the end as the squirrel learns to share, he instead becomes a little paranoid that he might be missing out on even more. Because the character doesn't learn the value of generosity, the book reinforces the limited concept that there isn't enough in the world. Rather than being open-handed in life, you hold on tightly to what you have. While this doesn't make the squirrel happy - evidenced by the closing picture of his frown as he surveys someone else's forest, that subtlety will be lost on young children.

It is his tree..... kinda. It's also everyone's tree!

Totally adorable illustrations filled with emotions that kids can relate to fill these pages, and my children loved looking ahead to what each page would reveal about our main character. There were lots of comments about those emotions, either in judgement of or empathy for them.

The ending is rather open, leading to lots of discussion after the book was done. It allows the reader the chance to explore other times when kids felt that something was all theirs, or they didn't want to share.

All in all, I liked it. The story rested heavily on the illustrations, but I don't mind that. I'd recommend it for a thought provoking, classroom read!

In this delightful picture book, squirrel is determined to hoard all the delicious pinecones that drop from "his" tree. He devises a plan to keep everyone else away, but was it a good idea? Illustrations emphasize an orange and yellow palette.

I requested and received an e-ARC of this book from NetGalley and Kids Can Press in exchange for my honest review.

This was a fun story about a squirrel who thinks that the tree he is currently eating pinecones from is his tree and only his tree. Although the tree has more than enough pinecones to go around the squirrel starts to imagine how he can protect his tree. He imagines building a giant wall that surrounds his tree and once the imaginary wall is built all he can think about are the possible trees on the other side and what he is missing out on.

This story provides a great start to conversations about greed, sharing, and FOMO.