Tove Under the Tree

Gr 1-4–Tove, a young girl with light skin and dark hair, is devastated to come home to the huge ficus tree in her front yard being removed. She’s told the tree is dead but salvages a branch with one tiny, living leaf. Tove decides to “plant” the branch atop her head, and it works! She spends the day ­walking around town, showing neighbors her new companion. With love and nurturing, the tree grows—fast. Soon, it’s far too big for Tove to support, and it’s a neighborhood-wide endeavor to help the girl and plant the tree in its rightful place. With an admirable message of embracing nature and one’s neighbors, this title has numerous confusing aspects. Tove’s age is not described and though she is depicted as a child, she also seems to run her household, performing grown-up tasks alone and directing the adults in her life. An illustration shows her cooking and handling a knife unsupervised. The narrative perspective jumps to ­various older characters and their ­concerns (a teenage boy, a few adults, including Tove’s mother) which slows the pace of an ­already subdued story, making the plot seem ­disjointed and less engaging for the intended audience. Benbassat’s gorgeously colored pencil-and-digital art is a high point and captures the quirky, loving personalities that populate Tove’s world. The resolution of the expected conflict demonstrates the power of community, though the book’s quiet, occasionally stilted tone doesn’t fully rise to the whimsy such a conceit requires.