Regarding the Trees: A Splintered Saga Rooted in Secrets

by Kate Klise, Kate Klise (Illustrator), M. Sarah Klise, M. Sarah Klise (Illustrator)

Overview

Principal Walter Russ just wants a simple proposal to trim the overgrown trees outside Geyser Creek Middle School. So how does he end up with a wedding (rather than a weeding) proposal from designer Florence Waters? Meanwhile, a student camps out in a weeping willow tree behind the school; the sixth-grade class explores its roots; and a culinary rivalry develops in the cafeteria. A surprise event saves the day (and the trees, too)!
Includes tips on planting a tree and creating a family tree.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780152060909
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/01/2007
Series:	Regarding the . . . , #3
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	960L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kate Klise is the author of many punny and funny middle grade novels, including all of the books in the popular 43 Old Cemetery Road series. She has also written a number of picture books and young adult novels. Ms. Klise lives in Norwood, Missouri. For more information about Kate, visit www.kateandsarahklise.com.

Kate Klise is the author of many punny and funny middle grade novels, including all of the books in the popular 43 Old Cemetery Road series. She has also written a number of picture books and young adult novels. Ms. Klise lives in Norwood, Missouri. For more information about Kate, visit www.kateandsarahklise.com.

M. Sarah Klise illustrates picture books and middle grade novels with a graphic twist. She also teaches art to children and adults in the Bay Area in California. For more information about Sarah, visit www.kateandsarahklise.com.

M. Sarah Klise illustrates picture books and middle grade novels with a graphic twist. She also teaches art to children and adults in the Bay Area in California. For more information about Sarah, visit www.kateandsarahklise.com.

Editorial Reviews

"Consistently clever and often hilarious, this and its series mates may well become perennial favorites with young readers."—Kirkus Reviews
"Filled with humor and whimsical characters . . . Witty wordplay abounds."—Booklist —

From the Publisher

Gr 4-6-Readers with patience, and perhaps a penchant for detail, may appreciate this latest offering from the author and illustrator of Regarding the Fountain (Avon, 1998) and Regarding the Sink (Harcourt, 2004). While the principal is simply looking for someone to trim some trees at Geyser Creek Middle School, a misunderstanding and clever rhetorical spin-offs take readers on a winding journey that includes every leafy pun imaginable. Add an Italian chef and a marriage proposal, and you have a one-of-a-kind plot waiting for that unique reader willing to take the time to unravel this clever book. Each page is painstakingly laid out in scrapbook form as the story unfolds with letters, newspaper columns, even packing envelopes. Some children may find the variety of wacky fonts and page styles difficult to navigate, and the quaint cover depicting a large party taking place under a tree does nothing to add to the book's appeal.-Cheryl Ashton, Amherst Public Library, OH Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

The doyennes of the double meaning offer a third visit to the Missouri hamlet of Geyser Creek, whose residents are now regarding two crises. One is middle-school Principal Wally Russ's "Proposal" to Flo Waters, which he supposes is only to cut down a century-old weeping willow to save his job (she thinks otherwise); the other a bitter culinary rivalry between the Geyser Creek Cafe's Angel Fisch and Chef Angelo of newly opened Caffe Angelo that has blossomed into a town-wide split between the sexes. As in previous episodes, these and other intertwined plotlines are entirely leafed out through letters, memos, newspaper reports and ads, archival documents and chalkboard notes, all printed in various typefaces with the occasional ink-and-wash vignette grafted in. Led by crusading classmate Minnie "Ax not! It's what you can do for your country" O., the six sixth-graders plant themselves right in the middle of it all, and by the end have helped to save the tree, nip the bad report of school inspector Leif Blite in the bud and turn intended "weedings" into multiple "weddings." Consistently clever and often hilarious, this and its series mates may well become perennial favorites with young readers. (Fiction. 9-11)

Kirkus Reviews