Maple and Rosemary

A lovely, timely story about the friendship between a girl and a tree. Both change and grow as time passes, but their friendship remains. A perfect book for little nature lovers.

The perfect story for a child who loves nature and understands its mysteries. Highly recommended.

Kiddo (9) and I loved this sweet story of the friendship between a girl and a tree. It reminds me of the Giving Tree only better - instead of a relationship where the boy takes and takes, Rosemary and Maple's friendship has both of them giving, both of them receiving the love they need to grow strong and to move past the loneliness they both share at the beginning of the book.The illustrations are whimsical and have a childlike charm. Kiddo said they looked a bit like crayon drawings and they do have that air about them. They also have a lot of character and show Rosemary's expressions really well.Kiddo listened rapt through the whole story (with only one interruption to ask anxiously if Rosemary would ever come back) and was very thoughtful after we finished. He is at the age where he is beginning to want friends and recognize loneliness, and the story seemed to resonate with him, as both Maple and Rosemary begin the story struggling with that.I love that it ends on a positive note. We never read the Giving Tree much, as it does not depict a healthy relationship and isn't really a happy story. Maple and Rosemary, in contrast, ends with Maple and Rosemary realizing they have become a part of one another and neither will ever be lonely again. It does a great job illustrating what true friendship is like and softens the bittersweet knowledge that Maple will outlive Rosemary, because Maple will always have memories of her.It would be a perfect read-aloud book for storytime and I am going to recommend it to my library as it is just the sort the children's librarian there likes to choose.I received a review copy of this book.

I was enjoying the story until the girl disappeared without saying goodbye. She reappeared about 20 years later with no explanation of why she left without saying goodbye to Maple, the tree, her only friend. Even if the girl’s family moved, she certainly would have known about it and said goodbye. Only reason I can think of for a child not knowing they were moving would be if the parent was escaping a domestic violence situation. Still, she would have apologized to Maple when she came back for leaving without saying goodbye. It was a big gaping hole in the story. Also, it said “Maple wanted the winter to cover her with snow and never ever melt” because Rosemary was gone. You don’t just leave your best friend like that with no goodbye or explanation!

I don’t know if it’s my new birth control, depressing state of my life, or that I am a Panay in general, but damn this book made me sob harder than my toddler when I tell her she can’t have chocolate for breakfast.

Oh my, what a gorgeous book! This sweet, lyrical picture book unfolds in spare language that appeals to children and their adults. Brilliant illustrations by Jennifer Mann bring the words to life with glowing, vibrant artwork. A testament to power of connection to nature and the light of lifelong, enduring friendship. "Once you have a friend, you know what you are missing when they are gone." Beautiful stuff!

This book is lyrical and lovely. Both the storyline and the illustrations capture the attention (of the adult reader, as well as the child). It's sweet, not saccharine, and powerfully affirming. Every child can identify with Rosemary in her childhood sadness and enjoy the triumph of her return to the school as a teacher. Watching Rosemary age as Maple grows, that same child perceives the pleasant companionship of a lifelong friendship. The details of the art make the book even more satisfying.My granddaughter has been entranced by this book since I brought it home. She's not a strong reader but sits, carefully paging through it, "reading" the pictures and discovering the details over and over as well as bringing it to me to read to her. Nana is going to buy another copy!

My children (5 & 8) adore this book. It is a moving tale of friendship through different seasons of life. The illustrations are lovely and delighted my children, who observed aloud the clever ways the illustrator captured the story in her pictures.