A review by gargamela
The Book Tree by Rashin Kheiriyeh, Paul Czajak

3.0

I got this for the illustrations which are simply wonderful and for the fact that it is a book about books and I can't resist that. However, the plot is definitely slow and would probably not be appealing to children. Also, how in the hell did the mayor succeed in getting rid of all the books without anyone else expect Arlo making a fuss about it. I know this is a book that inspires children and teaches them that the power of stories cannot be stopped by governmental action, but the plot is entirely implausible. How did the mayor not realize that his ban on books was being challenged and how did he change his mind so quickly at the end? This is not how censorship works and not how democracies/dictatorships work, so either make it more difficult for the mayor to censor books or make it more difficult for Arlo to bring back books. Making it more difficult to bring back books would have also made the plot a bit more engaging.