House Held Up by Trees
by: Kooser and Jon Klassen, Ted

Hardcover. MA, Candlewick, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 32 pages. Color illustrations by Klassen. From Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Ted Kooser and rising talent Jon Klassen comes a poignant tale of loss, change, and nature's quiet triumph. When the house was new, not a single tree remained on its perfect lawn to give shade from the sun. The children in the house trailed the scent of wild trees to neighboring lots, where thick bushes offered up secret places to play. When the children grew up and moved away, their father, alone in the house, continued his battle against blowing seeds, plucking out sprouting trees. Until one day the father, too, moved away, and as the empty house began its decline, the trees began their approach. At once wistful and exhilarating, this lovely, lyrical story evokes the inexorable passage of time -- and the awe-inspiring power of nature to lift us up.