Timber! I'm about to chop down another all-natural review for you.
THREE PROS
*Even though I lived under 30 minutes from Muir Woods as a teen, I must admit I didn't know half of the information I learned from reading this story
*If you have even the slightest desire to instill conservationist values in your kid, there are few children's books that would do a better job than this one
*Those first few pages, where the illustrations carry the boy on a journey through space and time, were extremely creative and engaging
*Those first few pages, where the illustrations carry the boy on a journey through space and time, were extremely creative and engaging
THREE CONS
*I wanted to like the ending more than I did, but it's missing a point of action that might have further pushed children to do something to help the environment
*While this book has a justifiable reason to include a picture of itself in the actual story (since the physical embodiment of the text is what transports the characters to the magical Redwood forest), putting it on almost every page felt over-the-top
*While this book has a justifiable reason to include a picture of itself in the actual story (since the physical embodiment of the text is what transports the characters to the magical Redwood forest), putting it on almost every page felt over-the-top
*Hate to hold it against author Jason Chin, but my boy couldn't make it to the end without asking to do something else
ONE DAD'S OPINION
As a proud alum of Redwood High School, there was no way I was not checking this book out of my local library. In hindsight, I probably should have opened it first; had I done so, I might have seen that its target age is approximately five to ten. Predictably, my 2.5 year-old was bored with the long pauses between page flips (owing to the abundance of text) at about the halfway point. So I went to plan B and powered through Chin's creation while distracting my son with this awesome YouTube video. I'm glad I did -- Redwoods really taught me a lot about these majestic California and Oregon forests. It's a comprehensive effort that pairs a ton of facts with skillful artistry. It's very close to being a Buy, but falls a few feet short because the reading time feels magnified (regardless of age) by the similarity inherent in page after page of tree drawings, no matter how nice they look.
Buy / BORROW / Donate / Destroy
ONE DAD'S OPINION
As a proud alum of Redwood High School, there was no way I was not checking this book out of my local library. In hindsight, I probably should have opened it first; had I done so, I might have seen that its target age is approximately five to ten. Predictably, my 2.5 year-old was bored with the long pauses between page flips (owing to the abundance of text) at about the halfway point. So I went to plan B and powered through Chin's creation while distracting my son with this awesome YouTube video. I'm glad I did -- Redwoods really taught me a lot about these majestic California and Oregon forests. It's a comprehensive effort that pairs a ton of facts with skillful artistry. It's very close to being a Buy, but falls a few feet short because the reading time feels magnified (regardless of age) by the similarity inherent in page after page of tree drawings, no matter how nice they look.
Buy / BORROW / Donate / Destroy
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