Tess's Tree

Written by: Jess M. Brallier

First line: This is Tess.

Why you should read this book: It's a delightful story about a little girl whose favorite old tree is cut down to preemptively prevent it from falling on someone. Heartbroken, Tess decides the only way to assuage her grief is to plan a memorial for her tree, and invite everyone to attend. Although she cries at her teacher's recitation of a Robert Louis Stevenson poem in the tree's honor, she's delighted and surprised to learn that others have loved her tree, including a middle age couple who long ago carved their initials in its bark, and an old lady who climbed Tess's tree more than seventy years earlier.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're a suburban developer.