It's MY Tree

It’s MY Tree is a powerful picture book that subtly addresses, validates, and normalizes an emotion that often has negative connotations and is viewed as an undesirable behavior. The story revolves around a squirrel and begins with the squirrel’s staking claims on a particular tree and its pinecones. The squirrel loves the tree and enjoys sitting by it and eating the pinecones. Once it is clear the squirrel views the tree and pinecones as its own, the story documents the squirrel’s spiraling worries about what would happen if someone else wanted its tree. The squirrel considers taking drastic measures, such as building a fence or a wall around the tree, in order to prevent others from being able to access it. However, the squirrel quickly begins to realize the drawbacks associated with following through on such a plan.

In It’s MY Tree, Tallec advocates for greed being a powerful emotion that should not be dismissed just because it is viewed as a negative or undesirable emotion by adults. Feelings of greed and gluttony are real and need to be acknowledged in order for individuals to learn how to better cope. Tallec’s subtle message that guides this story shows young children that everyone, even nonhuman creatures, such as squirrels, experience challenging feelings and emotions when learning to share or having something that they love and want to keep just for themselves.

The storyline relies heavily on the illustrations accompanying the text to make it the perfect book for young readers. Even though the main character is a squirrel, Tallec conveys the squirrel’s feelings and emotions accurately and clearly through its facial expressions and body language. Before even reading the text on each page, readers can get the sense of what mood the squirrel is in and what feelings it may be experiencing by just looking at the illustrations.

Another approach Tallec utilizes to accurately depict, and even emphasize, the squirrel’s emotions is the capitalization of possessive pronouns. By capitalizing “MY” and “THEIR” when the squirrel is referring to the tree and its pinecones, Tallec strategically communicates the fact that the squirrel is either strongly claiming ownership over the objects in question or is simply appalled at the thought of the objects being in someone else’s possession. The capitalization accentuates the possessive pronouns, making them more prominent to readers and further proving the possessiveness of the squirrel over the tree and its pinecones.

One significant aspect of this book that I found peculiar and, ironically, absolutely loved, was the fact that there isn’t a clear resolution at the end of the book. Normally, I find most books conclude with some sort of resolution to the story’s main conflict. Authors often wrap up their stories with a pretty little bow that gives readers satisfaction and reassurance that all has been ‘righted’. Without giving a total spoiler of It’s MY Tree, readers do not witness the squirrel living happily ever after with its tree, and only its tree, at the book’s end.

Whether they are entering school or daycare for the first time, in their early years of school, or dealing with a new sibling, all children need to learn how to play nicely with others, a skill that involves sharing and compromising on a daily basis. It’s MY Tree, through both the text and the illustrations, exposes young readers to the various emotions one may feel when learning to share. It’s MY Tree is definitely a book for any parent with young children or any teacher with young students.