A traditional tale, told for a new audience—three trees dream of riches, power, and the ability to point to heaven. What the trees are eventually used for—a trough, a boat, and a cross—and the moral of that story is the plot of the book.
By default, one notices pictures before text in a picture book. Colorful folk art illustrations grace the pages. I especially enjoyed the opening panels of trees in seasons on the first two pages and was hoping for more of the same to follow.
Though pretty to look at, the drawings seem anachronistic. Men and women dressed in traditional Pennsylvania Dutch clothing fill the pages. They stand beneath the the cross and are pictured in farm and woodcutting scenes. A number of men are shown (Jesus’ disciples in the boat, for example) with beards but no moustaches (which would not have been the case). Two men wearing wide black hats with flat crowns and broad brims (one is wearing blue overalls) are pictured building the cross. Women with white aprons stand behind medieval soldiers (Roman guards perhaps?) with pointy hats and spears, watching the construction. Also out of place is a Mediterranean coastal scene with an ancient ship in the background as a man with a broad brimmed, flat black hat builds a boat.
As a collector of pictorial works and children’s picture books in particular, I understand that imaginative anachronism has value and can be a creative tool on the part of an artist to spur thinking . . . but it seems misplaced here.
All of the above said, the illustrations are attractive and gentle in tone with a sometimes muted palette. The illustrator excels in her depiction of animals and nature (as on the cover)--but her forte is not human faces. However, if I wrote a children’s picture book about animals, I’d be delighted to have her illustrations grace my text (though after this honest critique, she might not be open to that possibility).
A layout issue, the publisher usually placed the black serif font text against a white background. However, on a couple of pages, the text was placed on top of an illustration, making the words difficult to read. While obviously not wishing to obscure the artist’s work, the layout person adding the text to the page might have used a subtle font effect to highlight the words or added a white background behind the text. ***
A complimentary copy of the book was provided by the publisher, Kregel Publications (Lion Hudson).
