A little boy lives in a city without any trees or nature. He dreams of seeing flowers and trees like the ones in books he reads. One day, he finds a sapling and decides to help it grow tall and strong. This is a very sad book with a powerful lesson that we need to take care of our planet before we end up with the LAST tree.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.

A great children's book with powerful illustrations. I enjoyed this one! Well written, a story about a boy living in a concrete city.

A good picture book with a great premise, but I found the ending to be lacking.

When I got home.
I lost myself in books.
To see some green, some leaves…
some happiness.

Beautifully illustrated by Guridi, this book by Ingrid Chabbert presents an environmental message to children.
A little boy grows up listening to his father talking about the green world of his own childhood, filled with outdoor adventures, feeling the blades of grass between his toes and flying kites with his best friend. That world is a dream for the children in this story, preserved only in books and memories.
The boy has to travel far to see grass, but there is less there every time he goes. His best friend finds a tree, the last tree and they save it from being destroyed, transplanting it somewhere it can grow tall and majestic.
I enjoy books with an environmental message as children will be the custodians of the future natural world that has already been so damaged by us human beings. This book reminds me of others with similar premises e.g. The Lorax, The Promise and The Trouble with Dragons.
The ending felt a little abrupt on the first reading, but I do think it has achieved the goal of making those who read it think about and appreciate the environment around them. I will be reading it to my class to spark discussion!

What I liked: Environmental message, style of illustrations
Even better if: Perhaps a fact page at the back (like The Journey Home), giving further information to support and deepen the discussion this book could start.

I looked at it.
I looked at the stars
and asked them to watch over it.
It was the last tree.

Loved this book. The illustrations show a sparse, but beautiful journey. This book is perfect for the primary classrooms, but could also be used in the intermediate classroom to tie in to conservation efforts and the issues that accompany the rapidly shrinking forests and preserves that come with the urbanization of many formerly suburban areas.

The Last Tree is about a young boy who lives in a grey city which only has high-rise buildings. He eventually finds the last tree and his story really begins.

I read this story to my Year 2 class who absolutely loved it. They picked up themes of how to look after nature, kindness, how to be a secret hero and what the consequences of the human world. A book which can allow six and seven year olds to think this way is always a winner!

Thank you to netgalley and Kids Can Press for allowing me to read this prior to release!

A sweet story, encouraging young readers to take action. The story is accompanied by lovely illustrations that somehow reminded me in style of Oliver Jeffers' work (which I love). The ending came a bit too abrupt for my linking, too easy and convenient. I wish there had been more for the reader to discover about this special place. Nevertheless a book that I will order for our library as it will be a great resource to have, a book that will surely spark a lot of conversations when shared as a read-aloud.

This simple picture book packs a big punch. Minimalistic pictures, mostly with black background, tell a grim tale about a city with barely any grass and just one tree. When the two protagonists learn the tree will most likely be razed, they decide to save it.

Avant-garde illustrations of a tale of a young boy setting out to save the last tree in the world. A commentary on how buildings take over natural space. Good use of perspective and relative size.

Other Ugly Things (4 stars)

The Last Tree is an interesting book. While its blurb seems to indicate it being a hopeful tale, I found it rather melancholy. Though its message of the importance of nature and our impact on the environment is one I find especially important I'm not sure this is the book I would share with my children or students to do so. Something about it felt like it would upset my sensitive daughter and not in a good way.

My reservations about sharing this with sensitive children aside, it is beautifully illustrated and gives a very strong contrast of city and nature.

There was once a child who had grown up listening to stories, haven't they all. But this child is special in more than one ways. He has grown up listening to stories of his grandfather growing up amongst lots of trees and grass. He hears about rolling on the grass and flying kites. But he can't do that by himself.
It is a story of future.

I loved this one. For such a small book it really packs a punch! The story is bittersweet of a time where plants are scarce...so scare that one boy finds the last tree and must try to save it. This was very cute and would work well as a beginning book to discuss Earth Day, Arbor Day, conservation, and many other environmental topics. The extension activities abound with this one. Loved this one and I highly recommend it.

What a beautiful book. The illustrations speak the words perfectly and the two are expertly intertwined. The story of this day and age would be a perfect companion to Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. So many opportunities for learning an teaching. I can't wait to share with my students.

A moving tale about the innocent attempts of two boys trying to save a little sapling. Their touchng efforts to protect the plant and the story`s underlying warning about a greenless future would encourage children to learn more about the threats to the environment, and the need to conserve it.

Two boys living at a future date, when the sight of a tree or a patch of grass are a rare treat, they discover a tiny sapling growing in the middle of a vast city. The plant fascinates them endlessly. They suspect it to be the last tree. The kids admire it for a long time and dream about it being a grown tree. Later they learn about a proposed high rise building that will commence at the same place where the plant is. The kids try desperately to save it. They remove it from the construction site and carry it to a far away place, where they plant the sapling and make a silent wish to the stars - to guard it: the last tree!.................Our proganist return years later as an adult to meet the grown tree.

The childrens` longing for a greener world to roll over and play, to experience what thay get to see and read only in books and through childhood tales of their fathers urge them to protect this one last plant: this simple yet emotionaly strong tale could certainly touch the hearts of young readers. It`s expressive and uncluttered illustrations carry the message of the text well. The ashy backdrops on the pages create the perfect ambience for the story and depicts the tree-less - and color-less - world.

Wanted to love it but it fell flat for me. The concept is a great one, but I just didn't cut it for me. Great for discussion though so you can supplement it.

OMG I can't believe this!!! It actually got me teary in the eye! I have to admit, initially while glimpsing the thumbnail of the book cover, I actually thought it were two little birdies on it lmao. It was until I started actually reading that I realized the figures are boys. The art style is easy to warm up to though!

The story may or may not be literally, or figuratively, speaking about THE last tree. >;] Yup, I know figuratively and literally are the opposite, so go read it yourself and see how you'd like to interpret it! It was surprisingly a depressing book at the beginning... I mean, I know we are getting more and more advanced, but what the boy described, where there's not enough grass for him and his friends to roll around on, makes the inside of me die a little. I shudder to think that really is what are future is becoming.

Their actions upon finding the little tree got to me. It was phrased so very simple, but I can practically hear the awe in the exclamation. Read this book, cherish trees, folks!

The Last Tree is both a story of hope and of despair. The pictures and the words work together effortlessly to tell the story, both adding on to the other. The illustrations portray a bleak, gray world where the only bright spots are a few meager patches of green to indicate some plant life. But the joy and happiness that those few patches do bring to the characters in the story will bring a smile to your face in the midst of looking into a possible such future of all bleak grays and very little greens. Their efforts in trying to save the possibly very last tree shine a bright ray of hope. Will they succeed? You can read to find out!

This book reminded me of a short story I read years ago in a children’s magazine in India called Target. My efforts to find that story or a copy of the magazine have been in vain so far but I will keep looking. That story was titled ‘Grandpa, what’s a tree?’ or maybe it was just ‘What’s a Tree?’, where a little boy in a dystopian earth (hopefully never) asks his grandpa what a tree is.That story was the first time I realized what the ramifications of our actions could be on earth and natural resources.
This book will be a good classroom read for discussion.

Rating: B
Reading Level: 5 - 8 yrs
Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley/Kids Can Press for the digital ARC of the book

I've gone through this book numerous times and am still wondering how to write about it in a way that will do it credit and capture its essence. I suspect it is beyond me, but here is my poor attempt.

When a picture book works, there is a seamless marriage of image and words. Separating one from the other in this artistic union becomes impossible.

This is one of those books.

Guridi's illustrations are paradoxically dark and joyful. The abstract illustrations portray landscapes and people in minimal detail. I like that we never really get enough information to determine the children's gender. The city is portrayed as large rectangles in varying shades of grey. The children, their bikes, books, the small details of their personal world, and the tiny bits of nature are the only aspects of colour against this backdrop of a drab world.

Chabbert's text is similarly contrary, being a combination of despair and hope.

A father tells a bored child stories of his life growing up. The memory of the father's childhood compares to his child's in stark contrast.

..my dad told stories about the world when he was young.
His favourite thing was rolling around
in the grass with his best friend.
Cartwheels on Monday, leapfrog on
Wednesday and kite-flying on Sunday.


This is not the experience of the child.

I had a best friend too.
but not the grass to go with him.
Instead, we had roads, walls and
lots of other ugly things.:

The only green the child and their best friend have is a patch of grass so tiny, the blades can be counted. They bike to visit it, only to discover that the number is diminishing.

At home, the child finds solace inside books that display the green of the natural world.

One day the children find a tree seedling.

Upon discovering that it is threatened by the construction of a 247 floor condominium, they come up with a plan and decide to rescue it. This is shown in child like illustrations on lined paper. It shows the life cycle of a tree with the rescue revealed in the process. The two children bike far from the city and plant the tree.

The children's rescue of the tree provides a dystopian counterpoint of hope. In spite of the fact that we might think this would be an optimistic event, when we eventually see these two characters, now adults, visiting this last tree, it's portrayed in darkness.

It is after all, still the last tree.

I would I would certainly purchase this book for my school library. The possibilities for its use in different units are endless.

The Last Tree is a beautifully illustrated book about a lone tree in the midst of an urban jungle. I enjoyed the structure and simple story as much as I did the illustrations. I teach in an urban area and I think this would make for an excellent addition to any k-3 classroom. This would be great for teaching respect for the environment and studying nature in urban areas. Absolutely lovely!