Review of We Disagree About This Tree

We Disagree About This Tree We Disagree About This Tree
by Ross Collins; illus. by the author
Preschool, Primary    Candlewick    32 pp.
9/23    9781536231984    $16.99

So many decorating concepts, only one tree! The polar bear and mouse first seen in There’s a Bear on My Chair alternate showing off their own ideas and rejecting each other’s: tinsel, electric lights, a manatee tree-topper, lit candles (fear not: the mouse has a fire extinguisher). The funny rhyming text is all in dialogue, but it’s easy to see who’s speaking as the argument escalates: fonts are differentiated, and the digital illustrations make it clear who’s excited about each aesthetic and who’s decidedly not. All ends well, of course—but if these two ever try decking the halls, run.

From the November/December 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

Shoshana Flax

Shoshana Flax, associate editor of The Horn Book, Inc., is a former bookseller and holds an MFA in writing for children from Simmons University. She has served on the Walter Dean Myers Award, Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and Sydney Taylor Book Award committees.

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