The New York Times-bestselling story of kindness, friendship, and hope. Trees can’t tell jokes, but they can certainly tell stories. . . .
Red is an oak tree who is many rings old. Red is the neighborhood “wishtree”—people write their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them to Red’s branches. Along with a crow named Bongo and other animals who seek refuge in Red’s hollows, this wishtree watches … animals who seek refuge in Red’s hollows, this wishtree watches over the neighborhood.
You might say Red has seen it all.
Until a new family moves in. Not everyone is welcoming, and Red’s experience as a wishtree is more important than ever.
Funny, deep, warm, and nuanced, this is Katherine Applegate at her very best—writing from the heart, and from a completely unexpected point of view.
This book has Common Core connections.
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I listened to this one with my daughter for her school. The whole school read this book and I was supposed to read from it aloud every night. I really don’t like reading aloud, sad to say. It makes me super tired and it’s hard to find the time. So I bought the audiobook instead and we listened to it together. It was great! The story was sweet and kept us on the edge of our seats the whole time, wondering what would happen next. Getting the audiobook was a great idea. It really kept my daughter engaged and she followed along in the paperback, learning new words along the way. If you have a reluctant reader, I definitely recommend pairing an audiobook with the paperback.
Wishtree by Katherine Applegate is about Red. A tree, but not just any tree. Red is a Wishtree.
This story wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, but I found it to be imaginative and creative. I loved the characters, and the writing was simple but enticing. A great story of the differences of people around us and the feelings these differences can evoke. I feel all children should read this book.
WISHTREE is one of those books I know I’ll re-read when I need a “feel-good” story to curl up with. Beautiful and heartfelt!
A perfect YA book for current time. Wonderful characters that YA readers can identify with in today’s society. I highly recommend it.
This book is wonderful and I love the so much it has things that we don’t have that’s what make it interesting so yeah I recommend this to everyone.
In this fantasy from a great middle grades author, the themes of acceptance and friendship are explored along with communities supporting one another b
I adore this book and will return to it again and again. A heartfelt tale of hope and kindness. Applegate creates another beautiful story for all ages.
Outstanding!!
This is one of those middle grade books that has been following me around. I think someone recommended it to me, and then I might have bought it at some library book sale but then misplaced it. I don’t even recall putting it on my audiobook library Wants list, and yet it popped up. So I listened.
And I couldn’t stop.
Told in the perspective of a very old tree in a neighborhood where once a year everyone ties their wishes to the tree (and only on that day do all the creatures who live/hang out in that tree stay away), I was immediately charmed. It is clever and funny and sweet and silly and moving and layered. Perfect for middle schoolers. PERFECT.
In short, a family moves in and someone in the neighborhood makes it clear that their kind are not welcome. So the tree and its birdy BFF decided to intervene. What happens is beautiful.
This book is about community, acceptance, friendship, life, love, nature. So many things.
If I cannot find the copy I thought I bought for my kids, I will go get a new one. It is that perfect.
https://www.ellwynautumn.com/my-book-review-of-wishtree-on-chw/
This is a good book
I read Wishtree by Katherine Applegate one-on-one with my fourth-grade student & seeing how much he enjoyed this endearing story narrated by an old oak tree named Red was incredible. We finished the book in 3 weeks! 🙂
By now i’ve read this book 4 times each time I read it I cry.
I read this book to our 12 and 14-year-old kiddos and we were hoping for more. More what? I guess more action? It just felt so slow. I mean, a tree is slow though, so that’s fine. It was thoughtful. It brought about some good points, and the animals were fun, but none of us really ever REALLY GOT INTO this book. We just kind of read it and moved on. We went into it not knowing a thing about it, but it wasn’t what we were hoping for.
Not very impressed. Okay story overall but nothing I would reccommend.