The Money Tree - Hardcover

Stewart, Sarah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374350140 ISBN 13: 9780374350147

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 1991

Synopsis

Miss McGillicuddy's simple country routine continues through-out the year in spite of a very unusual tree growing in her yard.

About this title

About the Author

Husband and wife duo Sarah Stewart and David Small have worked together on several picture books, including The Gardener, a Caldecott Honor book available from Square Fish. Small has also illustrated other books, including the 2001 Caldecott Medal winner So You Want to Be President?, by Judith St. George. Stewart and Small live in a historic home on a bend of the St. Joseph River in Michigan.

Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 3-- In January Miss McGillicuddy notices a strange tree in her yard. Month by month, as the seasons change, it grows, faster than any normal plant, into a money tree. Friends, then neighbors, then strangers, then a crowd, ``surging back and forth,'' come to pluck its leaves. Each page recounts, in two sentences of restrained text, Miss McGillicuddy's seasonal activities and her observations of the tree and its changes. The illustrations in pale watercolors show the woman as tall, willowy, and faintly old-fashioned. She's a little out of touch with the times perhaps, but obviously at home with her own life and therefore attractive and pleasing. She is usually placed to the side of the picture, pausing in her activity to observe the tree, which is not always seen by readers. This enhances the sense of Miss McGillicuddy as an observer. The only double-page spread shows the crowds scrambling for the money leaves. It is done with black silhouettes against a dark blue and purple sky, separating it pictorially from the pale orderly pictures of Miss McGillicuddy's world. This quirky little story has charm, but it is perhaps too quiet and the woman too passive an observer for most children. She seems so cool and remote from the tree and the greedy crowds that when she takes action and cuts it up for firewood, the sense of completion and problem solved is diffused. Nevertheless, although not wildly ironic like Heide's Treehorn's Treasure (Holiday, 1981), this book, in a quiet way, makes a definite statement about the foibles of humankind. --Karen James, Louisville Free Public Library, KY
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the window of her cozy farmhouse, Miss McGillicuddy notices "an unusual shape" poking through the snow. By spring it has grown into an oddly configured tree the branches of which are laden not with leaves but with dollar bills. Word of this extravagant foliage spreads fast and far, and all summer long the woman watches quietly as townsfolk and strangers greedily pick money from her tree. After its leaves drop to the ground and winter arrives once again, Miss McGillicuddy decides to chop down the tree, and she is left with something very valuable indeed: wood that will keep her warm during the coldest months. Though its message may be beyond the reach of some readers, Stewart's first book will raise worthwhile questions for both children and adults. Yet more exceptional than the story are Small's ( Paper John ) paintings. Often reminiscent of the art of Carl Larsson, these evocative, pastel-filled watercolors echo the hushed, mysterious tone of the tale. Ages 5-up.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In January, Mrs. McGillicuddy observes an unusual shape out in the snow. By March it's an extraordinary tree that, in May, bears a profusion of U.S. currency. She shares it with a few children, whose parents arrive in June to share the bounty--the first of what becomes an invasion of people motivated first by ``special projects'' and finally by simple greed. By December, it's all over: the leaves are gone, and Mrs. McGillicuddy is preparing to use the tree for her fire. In his mellow, beautifully drawn illustrations, Small reflects the text's understated tone by focusing on the continued serenity of the good lady's house and garden and her pleasure in her dogs, birds, and flowers--rather than on the not-so-gentle satire implicit in this offbeat parable. Handsome and thought-provoking. (Picture book. 5-10) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374350140
• ISBN 13: 9780374350147
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Small David
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40