You and Me and the Wishing Tree
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
We woke up in the usual way,
but it was not a usual day.
Out on the lawn, plain as could be,
stood an orange wishing tree.
"I wish!" I said. "I wish!" said you.
And so our double wishes grew.
Wishes are a magical part of childhood. Whether we wish on stars or blow out candles on a cake, our dreams matter. Nancy Tillman captures the wonder of wishes as only she can, with love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Tillman's mixed-media collages always have an air of surreal magic to them, a quality that especially befits this dreamy story of a mother's visit to a wish-granting tree with her child. Writing in the voice of the parent, Tillman (You're Here for a Reason) follows the twosome through a day filled with one miraculous wish after another. First, the child wishes to fly ("In just a whistle's worth of time/ and not a second more,/ our feet were not attached to ground/ the way they'd been before"), and subsequent wishes lead to a beachfront breakfast with bears, hopscotching with a penguin and dog, and a brief flirtation with invisibility: Tillman gives the child a ghost of an outline as he or she bicycles past a field of flowers, a red cape trailing behind and training wheels firmly affixed to the bike safety first, even when invisible. The well-constructed verse tends toward the sugary as it emphasizes the child's appetite for adventure and the mother's quiet devotion, though it's unlikely to bother Tillman's many fans. Ages 4 8.
