It's MY Tree

July 1, 2020
A meditation on the perils of possessiveness. In what is not so much a story as an open-ended discussion starter, a solitary squirrel stakes a claim--"It's MY tree and these are MY pinecones"--and then whirls off on a round of imaginary what-ifs. Having first contemplated the prospect of being challenged for ownership and then the notion that there just might be enough shade and pine cones to share ("But we all know where that kind of thinking leads"), the squirrel proceeds to envision ways to reinforce its property rights...maybe by building a wall (nothing topical to see here, oh no). In the illustrations, the bucolic setting is transformed into a mental landscape dominated by a towering wall that stretches off into the distance to leave squirrel and tree alone in stark isolation. Thinking that there might be more trees or bigger pine cones to claim on the other side, the squirrel scampers to the top of the wall--and in a wordless final scene is left staring at a crowded woodland aswarm with other squirrels. Readers may be left feeling cast adrift, particularly as the plotline comes off as, at best, thin next to flavorsome explorations of the theme like Jeff Mack's Mine! (2017), Alex Willmore's It's My Sausage (2020), or Tallec's own (as illustrator) How Selfish! written by Clare Helen Welsh (2020). (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-16-inch double-page spreads viewed at 42% of actual size.) Food for thought, though the portions are larger and tastier elsewhere. (Picture book. 6-8)

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August 21, 2020

K-Gr 2-In this slyly political French import, a frenetic squirrel feels very possessive of a beloved pine tree, declaring "I love eating MY pinecones in the shade of MY tree." This line of thinking makes the rodent worry that though it's possible that there are enough pinecones for everyone, "we all know where that kind of thinking leads; then the tree would be everyone's tree, the pinecones everyone's pinecones." This is an astute concern, yet many children intuit it-a reluctance to share. To protect the tree, the squirrel builds increasingly larger defenses, eventually erecting an enormous wall. Yet even the wall fails to provide the sought-after security, making the squirrel wonder if beyond it hides "a whole forest of trees full of pinecones." The last, somewhat ambiguous, double-page spread shows the nonplussed squirrel standing on top of the wall looking down at other squirrels frolicking among many pine trees. Tallec's deceptively simple stylized illustrations delight with the comical antics of his bright orange, bushy-tailed protagonist, conveying an impressive range and depth of squirrel emotions, from pleased and alarmed to enraged and baffled. VERDICT Though potentially too open-ended for some readers, this multilayered story lends itself to a timely discussion of greed, contentment, and the futility of building walls.-Yelena Voysey, formerly at Pickering Educational Lib., Boston Univ.

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 26, 2020
This droll French import follows a possessive, scrawny orange squirrel who is reminiscent, in both design and temperament, of Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel from the Ice Age films. The squirrel claims a specific tree and its pinecones, and furiously contemplates ownership and entitlement (“But what if one day someone decided that MY tree isn’t MY tree but is actually THEIR tree?”). Pondering how best to protect its favored pine, the squirrel eventually decides that building a gigantic wall is the best option. But the wall causes more issues as the squirrel grows greedier (“Maybe there’s a whole forest of trees full of pinecones behind that wall”), and the squirrel eventually surmounts it, only to face a forest full of squirrels staring back. Though adults might subsequently engage children in discussions on sharing and societal compassion, the lack of resolution makes for a dissatisfying ending. Ages 3–7.

January 1, 2021
A frantic squirrel, with a dramatically oversized tail, has a favorite tree and loves to eat pinecones in its shade. In a series of conditional statements, the squirrel begins to wonder what will happen if someone else claims the tree or even the pinecones. "I need everyone to know these are MY pinecones and this is MY tree," says the squirrel in a spread with a larger font (and the use of capitalized possessive pronouns) to emphasize the underlying greed. The squirrel also wonders what might happen if the tree is marked off by a wall -- a sturdy, long wall, joined by yet another wall. Tallec lays out the action in a primarily copper-colored palette and, to great effect, uses only two double-page spreads -- one to show how excessively long the squirrel imagines the wall to be and the other to show what might happen if the squirrel peeks over it. This latter moment, the book's open-ended conclusion, makes for a good vehicle for discussion. The squirrel's over-the-top facial expressions -- the wide-eyed, paranoid looks -- are often laugh-out-loud-funny; the cover art, not repeated in the book, shows the squirrel desperately trying to hang on to possession of the tree. This contemporary fable about gluttony, selfishness, and isolationism is a fitting one for our times; with its exaggerated humor, it goes down easy.

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2021
A frantic squirrel, with a dramatically oversized tail, has a favorite tree and loves to eat pinecones in its shade. In a series of conditional statements, the squirrel begins to wonder what will happen if someone else claims the tree or even the pinecones. "I need everyone to know these are MY pinecones and this is MY tree," says the squirrel in a spread with a larger font (and the use of capitalized possessive pronouns) to emphasize the underlying greed. The squirrel also wonders what might happen if the tree is marked off by a wall -- a sturdy, long wall, joined by yet another wall. Tallec lays out the action in a primarily copper-colored palette and, to great effect, uses only two double-page spreads -- one to show how excessively long the squirrel imagines the wall to be and the other to show what might happen if the squirrel peeks over it. This latter moment, the book's open-ended conclusion, makes for a good vehicle for discussion. The squirrel's over-the-top facial expressions -- the wide-eyed, paranoid looks -- are often laugh-out-loud-funny; the cover art, not repeated in the book, shows the squirrel desperately trying to hang on to possession of the tree. This contemporary fable about gluttony, selfishness, and isolationism is a fitting one for our times; with its exaggerated humor, it goes down easy. Julie Danielson

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)