The Book Tree by Paul Czajak illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh

Nestled in the branches of a tree, Arlo opened his book and breathed in.
Beginnings were always the best part. They smelled as if anything were possible.

Contrast this with the words of the mayor:

Books are dangerous! I don't trust them. 
They act like seeds, which grow into ideas, and ideas turn into questions.

What happened? Well a book fell on the mayor's head. So now he aims to remove all books from his jurisdiction.  Every book in every library, every house, every shop.  All are destroyed - ripped into tiny shreds. Only one single page survives blown on the wind before landing in the mud.

Without books the world becomes a dismal place. No story time at school. No recipe books for restaurants. No theatre because there are no plays. Arlo needs to solve this problem. He draws some words into the dirt and bingo he realises he can write new books! He writes about giants, dragons, a magical swan and as he reads his stories aloud a sprout comes up - it is in the place where that one page was buried. The sprout grows into a magnificent tree filled with books. Unfortunately the Mayor walks past again and another book hits him on the head. He is furious and once again plans to destroy all the books but Arlo stops him. Arlo points out all the benefits of books in their town. Five star restaurants and theatre performances. And the mayor himself starts to read a wonderful book which captures his attention and delights him.

"Books did all of this?' the mayor asked, astonished.
'No' Arlo said, as he handed the mayor a freshly picked story. 'The book was just the seed."

An excuse for Czajak to share his love of books with children, this story’s optimistic view of creativity and resistance is fairly irresistible. Kirkus

The Book Tree eloquently captures society today,making it a cautionary tale as much as it’s an inspirational one. Rashin Kheiriyeh’s oil paint and collage artwork gives a lovely crispness to the work,and brings the books to life by making them stand out against the page. Mom Read it


I have said this before but there are some publishers of children's books who always deliver quality titles - Walker Books (Candlewick US), Nosy Crow, Gecko Press, North South, Andersen Press, Tundra Books, Tiny Owl, The Chicken House, Kids Can Press, Flying Eye, David Fickling Press, Lantana, and Barefoot Books - the publisher of The Book Tree.

You can see the book trailer on the publisher web page. Here is the web site for Paul Czajak and one for Rashin Kheiriyeh. You can hear Rashin talking about her work here. She has published over 70 books for children. There are some discussion questions for The Book Tree here.

I would pair The Book Tree with The Greatest Treasure of Charlemagne the King.