The Tree That Grew to the Moon

Lisa Arsenault is an elementary-school teacher in Ajax, Ontario.

A little girl finds an uprooted sapling and plants it in a bag of dirt
in her bedroom. Her mother suggests that planting it indoors might not
be such a good idea because the roots could grow down into the
apartments below and the branches could grow through the apartments
above and possibly up to the moon. This leads to much gleeful
speculation by mother and daughter about the reactions of the owners of
the apartments to this situation. Perhaps the lady in the apartment
above theirs would be carried by the tree up to the moon and would fall
in love with the Man in the Moon; certainly all of the children in the
building would love to play in the branches.

Imaginative and whimsical, this is a charming excursion into the realm
of the fanciful. The child and her mother egg each other on, capping
each other’s ideas concerning the possibilities presented by the
phenomenon of a tree growing up through ceilings and down through
floors. The hypothetical scenarios are always lighthearted and cheerful.
The bright and colorful illustrations are crammed with detail and
complement the joyous, carefree text. Readers will enjoy poring over
these pictures, as there is something new to be discovered with each
viewing. Highly recommended.