it was early morning when Val decided to visit Wonder Woods.
Val lives alone with his mom (his father is out of the picture) and while life can be a little lonely without his dad there, Val does have plenty to keep him busy.
There’s the Wonder Woods near Val’s house and he gets to explore it all the time. One day, Val is checking up on his frog, Croaker, when something surprising happens.
“Trees can’t talk,” said Val.
“I can talk. I can walk, and I can do many things,” said Spruce.
And so Val meets Spruce (who, as the name implies, is a Spruce tree.
At first Val is a little uncertain but soon warms up to his new friend.
“Hello Spruce, it is great to see you again. What have you been up to?”
But what was once a simple visit soon becomes something much more serious.
There’s lumberjacks in the woods – intent on chopping down all the trees.
There’s hunters in the woods – intent on clearing the forest of its animals.
What can one little boy do?
Turns out – a LOT when you have a giant tree on your side!
Overall – I quite liked this book!
Val was a compelling main character and I enjoyed viewing the world through his eyes.
Spruce was a wonderful guardian to Val and his friends. And I loved the way Spruce lifted each scene to a different level.
I thought the plot of this book was simplistic but enjoyable.
I liked how Val took realistic, easy steps to combat the threats to Spruce’s forest (i.e. starting a petition to prevent clear-cutting of the forest).
It’s a good example for kids to see what they can do to help out their natural world.
I really adored the illustrations scattered throughout the book – the frog one was so stinking cute!
I do wish there were more of them, and that they were more evenly spaced throughout the book – but the ones we did have definitely enhanced the book.
This book read more like a series of vignettes and I feel like book did a good job of going from mini-plot to mini-plot.
All in all, I found this book to be a fun and adorable read!
With thanks to Carol Smith for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review
Miranda Reads 