A cute picture book about a possessive squirrel who thinks of ways to make sure no one gets to enjoy his tree and eat his food. The art was fun and cute and it would be funny for the kids to read about not to imitate in his selfishness.

I thank Netgalley and Kids Can Press for the digital ARC.

"A story about greed and pinecones."

That sums this book up beautifully. It's a book about a greedy and selfish squirrel who doesn't want to share it's tree even though there is no one else trying to share its tree, it's all about the "what if".

The illustrations are wonderful and quirky. The manic squirrels internal rambling about his tree and his pinecones had me giggling, but unless I was using this book as a cautionary tale about greed, selfishness and the dangers of FOMO, I wouldn't want my kid reading it. I don't want my kid thinking building walls to keep others out is acceptable "because it's his tree," and I don't want the only reason he chose not to do that being he was scared of what HE'D personally be missing out on if he did.

The vocabulary is incredibly basic so the book could be read with very young children but the messaging is probably better discussed with slightly older kids... I'd recommend for 3-7 year olds.

In It’s My Tree a squirrel gets a bit carried away in insuring HIS tree and HIS pinecones cannot be enjoyed by any other creature dwelling in the forest.

Oh man, this little squirrel reminds me of all the little squirrels running around in our backyard, and at times my toddler himself. I love reading fables to my kids. Next to modeling good behavior, it’s the easiest way to teach important life lessons. The vivid illustrations and storyline in It’s My Tree is a great foundation for teaching kids about important life lessons like sharing and being gracious for what we have. Although this book sets the foundation to the intended life lesson, I feel like it falls short in delivering any conclusions or resolution. Will the squirrel forever cast himself off into isolation to protect HIS stuff, or will he learn to live within a community and the joy of giving and sharing with others?

The book was still captivating for my toddler and the illustrations were delightful. It would be a fun book to read at the library, but I do not think I’d add it to my own.

Thank you NetGalley, Kids Press, and Olivier Tallec for providing an eARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is a colourful, expressive tale of a red squirrel who wants his tree, his pinecones and his space. Nobody else better stake a claim. He thinks up plans to mark off his territory, stop anyone coming in. Well, that's all right, they don't need him do they?
Kids can see who does or doesn't benefit in this fun short tale. I don't know if they will apply the knowledge to life without an adult prompting, but it might be a way of calming disputes over whose bedroom, whose toy, whose book, whose garden etc. that siblings and neighbours get into at times. We also get to respect trees and see that they benefit us.
Enjoy! Ages four up to seven.
I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this along with my son! We found the illustrations and story quite comical. The "grass is always greener" lesson was simple and effective. Would read this one again and again!

Loved the illustrations and the different ways the squirrel tried to protect his tree. A fun read that reminded me of the movie Ice Age.

The whimsical illustrations bring the text of this short, delightful picture book to life. Squirrel wants to keep his tree and pinecones for himself. To do so, he needs to protect this supposed possession by defining his territory. Should he erect a gate or a wall? And if a wall, how long and high should it be? In the process of figuring things out, Squirrel encounters a huge wall, arousing his curiosity—and greed. The trees and pinecones behind this large wall can be his—or can they? A humorous story about selfishness and contentment.

Thanks to Olivier Tallec for writing and illustrating the children's book It's MY Tree. Thanks to Kids Can Press and NetGalley for a temporary digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Olivier Tallec was born in Brittany, France in 1970 and now lives in Paris. He has illustrated more than sixty books for children. Yvette Ghione translated this book from french to english.
A squirrel loves trees and has a favourite tree, and the pinecones from this tree are his favourite
pinecones. He loves sitting in the shade of his tree while eating his pinecones.
Then he becomes fearful that another squirrel will claim his tree and his pinecones.
"But what if one day someone decided that MY tree isn't MY tree but is actually THEIR tree?"
The squirrel does not want to share his tree, so he builds a long high wall around his tree to protect it. Then he realizes that there may be bigger and better trees on the other side of his wall.
I love the cover and the illustrations, especially the squirrel with his bushy long tail. Yellow, brown and muted orange colours give a cozy autumn feel to book.
#ItsMyTree #NetGalley

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I feel very conflicted about <em>It's MY Tree</em> by Olivier Tallec, so much so that I actually waffled on this fox rating between 4 and 3 for quite some time before finally settling. On the one hand, I genuinely do see this as an important book. The people who are going to relate to the squirrel's desire to "protect his own" are the ones who <em>desperately</em> need to read and relate to how he feels in the end. Unfortunately, I think there are too many other "squirrels" who also know this "squirrel" and feel the same way, so they sort of make their own rotten community as they can. Thus, the message they could learn is one they might also ignore. Which brings me to my other point...I kind of hated this.

<b>The current climate.</b>

If the squirrel didn't remind me so damn much of Trump and his ilk, I doubt I would have been so disturbed by this as a children's book. I mean, I get its purpose. The whole book is set up to point out how the squirrel is hurting himself by being so damn protective of "his" tree and so unwilling to share it with outsiders. And while that is true of the Trumpists in love with their stupid wall idea and are resultingly actually hurting themselves by thinking that they need to keep others away from their "tree (country)," I don't think they'll be smart enough to actually recognize this fact?

It's a great message. I don't think it's going to reach the people it needs to.

But then, who knows, maybe I'll be wrong.

<b>I felt uncomfortable.</b>

The thing is, I agree wholeheartedly with books that do their very best to lead people who have horrible mindsets to realize the error of their ways and learn to be better people. I think they're immensely important and helpful and I applaud anyone's effort to create them. The best thing, in my opinion, that could come from this book would be if even one mind is changed on matters like this. Or, at the very least, if a young mind exposed to the problems of knowing someone who does agree with Trump reads this book and recognizes the errors of that adult in their life's ways.

But, since the squirrel reminded me <em>so damn much </em>of Trump's wall-loving moronic supporters, I hated him so much. And I wasn't overly fond of the way the book made me feel sorry for him. At the same time, I do kind of feel like it is important for me to feel that way. So, again, conflicted.

<b>The artwork.</b>

Okay, the illustrations were adorable. They definitely pull you in. Cute, grumpy squirrels aren't exactly what I picture when I think of the horrible people who came to mind while I read this, though. Ultimately, despite not really enjoying this book at all, I definitely see it as an important one. I hope it does good for the world.

<em>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</em>

This review will go live on the Reader Fox Blog on May 23, 2020.

A very beautiful book with colorful illustrations.I really liked the color combinations used in it .But That's it .
I couldn't find any appropriate reason of this book.
Yes this book deals with sharing the world with others .I would have preferred that message in simple and clear words as it's a children book.
This book needs a lot of explaining.

This was by far the cutest and amazing graphic novel I've recently read! I liked everything about it!

Title: It's My Tree

Author:Olivier Tallec 


Translated by: Yvette Ghione (English)


Published by: Kids Can Press


Date: 2020


Pages: 36


Illustrated by: Olivier Tallec


There are two versions of this book. The original version was published in France by l'ecole des loisirs, Paris in 2019; the English version, which I am here reviewing and advertising, was published by Kids Can Press in 2020. 

This is a delightful little book with a very easy to read text and a very easy to understand story--even if the author is not entirely subtle in his politics. No one writes a story without having a subtext and even children's authors are wont to include their political points of view in the stories they write. What could have been a very simple story explaining to children why sharing is a good thing or why selfishness is a bad thing, the author makes the point of his book that the squirrel gets angrier and angrier as more and more animals come to eat and relax under HIS tree. It's all imagined by the squirrel as he dives deeper and deeper into paranoia about his tree. 

He starts by putting up a gate. Then a fence. And them, not surprisingly, a brick wall. Our world is full of and fond of walls. There's a great wall in China that not too many people in the world complain about. Rich people put walls around their houses to keep out others. I even have a cheap wooden fence surrounding the back of my house. It enables me to let my dog run free without supervision. So there is a political subtext to the story that does not require much sophistication to understand. 

The story is not terrible and again I note that insofar as stories go, it's harmless; however, as a parable with obvious political overtones, it's pretty terrible. And I don't like how it just ends. Granted, it ends in a way that allows the reader to formulate his/her own conclusions about what just happened and what they might do in a similar situation, but all we are left with is the bewildered squirrel staring greedily at a forest full of squirrels (that look exactly like he does!) and pine cones that he wishes were his. I don't like the open ending and would have preferred there to be some explicit moral or change of heart by the protagonist.

I hate being this critical of a children's book. Some might say 'oh, it's just a kids' story' to which my reply would be something like, 'really?' 

On a positive note, I always note when the artwork is well done in a story and this is true of It's My Tree. The artwork is exceptional and fun and engaging. Emotions are conveyed nicely in the art and one gets a real sense of what the squirrel is thinking just by the looks on his face. One could almost read it without the text (or subtext.)

3/5 because it lacks subtlety

*I was provided a free Adobe Digital Editions copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest and free review. The book expires after a month or so and I will not retain possession of it. No other considerations were given or implied in this exchange.

It's MY Tree is a story with a lot of potential. It starts out very cute with an overprotective squirrel. The squirrel wants nothing more than to protect his tree. I was really hoping for a lesson at the end of the story to tie it all together, but the story just ends with no resolution.

This is book does not stand out from any other book. I think that there is no new message from this book

It's MY Tree by Olivier Tallec is a wonderfully drawn picture book, with some laugh-out-loud illustrations. It's more than obvious that the squirrel is too greedy, and despite wanting a good moral at the end, it almost seemed like a cliff hanger. He did everything he could to hoard and keep others out, only to covet what might be outside his own self-imposed boundaries. I can draw my own conclusions, but it didn't quite have the resolution I'd want to help teach young kids about greed/sharing/loneliness/community.

I loved the illustrations, but didn't connect with the story. It appears to be a fable, but it never got to the moral. It was simply about a greedy, lonely squirrel. I was hoping he would find a reason to share or be with other squirrels.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.

This was a cute story about a squirrel who is very possessive over his tree and his pinecones, but learns that sharing is not as scary as he thought it would be. The illustrations in this book are beautiful. My kids enjoyed reading it together. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Fun to read aloud with the dramatic flair of a greedy squirrel. Hilarious illustrations to accompany - we loved the angry eyes. Reminded me of a combination between the Ice Age creature and Wild E Coyote.
Lots of giggles with this one. Definitely one that will be revisited.

Thank you NetGalley and Kids Can Press for this free e-book. This review is mine alone.
I loooooove the illustrations- the cover is what caught my eye. The squirrel looks a bit craze so I just know the story going be a bit silly. My 3 and 5 yr old thought the story was entertaining. We can tell that the squirrel was just trying to protect what he thought was his right to the pinecones and the tree. But at the end of the story, when he went a bit ‘mad’ at self isolation with the walls - he got more greedy on what he thinks he’s missing outside of fortress. The ending kind of was disappointing cause it just drops off like a cliffhanger. Overall, it was a fun read!

Nice simple artwork and easy to read. Topic may resonate to some kids well. Another good choice for a library collection in the emotions section.