Name: A Tree Is Nice
Rating: 4 (2 reviews)
ISBN: 9781435200227

Marc Simont

Janice May Udry

Both amusing and factual, this is a joyous account of what trees can mean to a child.

A Tree Is Nice

Trees are beautiful. They fill up the sky. If you have a tree, you can climb up its trunk, roll in its leaves, or hang a swing from one of its limbs. Cows and babies can nap in the shade of a tree. Birds can make nests in the branches. A tree is good to have around. A tree is nice.

Sarah Sammis

A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry and illustrated by Marc Simont won the 1957 Caldecott medal. It's a celebration of trees and why they are nice.

The reasons listed are simple things like "they fill up the sky" to fun ones like you "can roll in its leaves." They provide shade for animals and homes for bird nests. And so forth.

The illustrations in each page spread alternated between line drawings and one watercolor illustrations. It's an usual but eye please combination. See the blog post at No Big Dill for examples of both.

As there's not much in the way of plot for this book, Harriet and I read the book once. Then we went back and looked at the illustrations and talked about the trees around we live.

A Tree Is Nice

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