How I learned to fall out of trees

Adelia and Roger are best friends, but Adelia is moving away. In a thoughtful effort to prepare Roger for her absence, Adelia teaches him how to climb a tree and, because he is concerned about it, how to fall. The left side of each spread in the books first half features third-person text and circular illustrations showing all the items Adelia is collecting; these items include not just soft feathers and leaves but the stuffed animals they once played with, the pillows they had used to make forts, etc. The right side of the book features Adelias instructions to Roger, depicted in speech balloons. Her helpful advice can be read on more than one level: instructions such as hang on tight with both hands and when youre ready, climb up to the next branch make good guidelines for life as well as tree-climbing. The pacing slows in the last six spreads, as Roger reluctantly says goodbye (Letting go will be the hardest part) and climbs the tree. But, knowing that Adelia had prepared to lessen the pain of his fall in more ways than one, he falls with a smile into the pile of soft objects Adelia had been gathering. Kirschs story spans the seasons; the endpapers subtly depict the passage of time via leaves changing color from spring and summer to autumn. This tender story, sweet without being saccharine July/Aug p.110(c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Saying goodbye to a friend is tied together with the experience of climbing in Kirsch's sentimental latest.Roger learns a last lesson from his friend Adelia before her family moves away: how to climb a tree. "What if I fall?" he worries. What follows is a primer on both getting up into the leaves and coping with the loss of someone you're attached to. Kirsch elegantly makes the connection with affirmations that work both ways: "Hang on tight with both hands"; "take it one branch at a time"; and, inevitably, "letting go will be the hardest part!" If it seems tree-twee, the pace and Roger's perpetually grim but trusting face make up for it. The busily illustrated pages that show Roger and Adelia having their last moments together are intercut with items she's collected to break Roger's fall, presented on contrasting white backgrounds. These pages come across like warm, flashing memories. By the time Roger makes his solo climb and falls, smiling, into a gigantic pile of Adelia's making, it feels like a tremendous and joyful payoff to what has previously seemed like a sad learning experience. Adding to the vibe are Kirsch's careful details: bespectacled, pink-skinned Roger's fussy clothing, brown-skinned Adelia's flower garlands, the ridged texture of the tree itself. Close readers might wonder if Adelia falls victim to the "magical minority" trope, but as both children are equally swiftly sketched it does not seem to apply.A well-cultivated story that plants a seed about the value of friends and what they leave with us, even when they're gone. (Picture book. 3-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.