Peapod’s Book Advent Day 8

You can find out more about our Christmas Book Advent here.

Last night, we read…

The Tree That’s Meant to Be by Yuval Zommer

We were lucky enough to request and receive a copy of this from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. All views and opinions are my own.

We are big fans of Yuval Zommer’s beautifully illustrated non-fiction books (my review of The Big Book of the Blue is here) so I was really excited when I saw this.

It takes Yuval’s enthusiasm for nature, so clear in his non-fiction, and transfers it to fiction in this tale of a tree who’s a bit short, a bit crooked, a bit imperfect…or so it seems.

As the other trees are chosen for Christmas, cut down by excited families and taken away, our tree is left alone. Until the animals of the forest appear with natural decorations to celebrate.

And unlike those Christmas trees taken away, we see our tree has made friends and found a place for life. It’s lovely to see our tree over time as seasons change in the story, and would be a nice way to talk about seasons with little ones too.

Peapod is mad on woodland animals, so loved pointing at all the animals for us to name and the story feels so warm and hopeful.

With the characteristically gorgeous illustrations and reverence for nature we’ve come to expect from Yuval, this is simultaneously full of Christmas cheer and the joys of the wild. One we’ll be returning to annually!