about the book
Everyone knows how a book works. You hold it in your hands and you look at the pictures and read the words on the first page and then turn the page. Repeat again and again.
Well, this book is a little different. It’s “magic!” On the very first page there is a leafless old tree. But if you tap the page once with a finger and then turn the page, a leaf appears on the tree!
Now tap it four times, turn the page and— abracadabra!—the tree has four more leaves.
What would happen if you rubbed the tree? Turn the page and—ta-dah!—the tree is full of pink flower buds!
Now jiggle the book. Maybe pat the leaves or even blow a kiss. Follow along through the four seasons to watch the tree as it blossoms, bears apples, bursts into autumnal colors, and swirls the leaves away. Winter white snowflakes will bring the tree back to its bare branches.
With eyes closed, count to ten and turn the last page. “Magic” happens once again!
about the author
Christie Matheson is a writer, editor, photographer, and artist who lives in San Francisco and in Boston. Tap the Magic Tree is her very first picture book, but she is an old hand at the publishing biz!
Christie writes about all sorts of different things, from modern birdhouses to lifestyles. She has written and edited six cook books, a couple of which are about fancy cakes. YUM! She is the author and photographer of an outdoor travel book, Discover Rhode Island. She writes books about etiquette and manners, about being chic while still living green, and a witty website for new parents and city moms.
Her articles have appeared in The Boston Globe, Glamour, Shape, Fitness, Yoga Journal, and Martha Stewart’s Body+Soul. Christie also does a living green column for the Globe, and on television she reports on the hottest trends all over New England.
Sources:
Author biography: Soucebooks
Author biography: HarperCollins
Author video
read more!
Picture a Tree by Barbara Reid
Young readers are invited to explore trees in a more personal way and discover the creatures that inhabit them in various situations throughout the four seasons. The types of trees are never identified, but in the narrator’s imagination, they are portrayed as a tunnel, an ocean, a pirate ship, and much more.
Pie in the Sky by Lois Ehlert
The unseen narrator just moved into a new house, and according to her dad, the tree in the yard is a pie tree! She’s never seen a pie tree, but as the seasons pass, she watches as all sorts of activities take place in the tree, from birds nesting to red fruit ripening. Then dad and child make their first cherry pie together. A recipe for cherry pie is included.
Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit : A Book of Changing Seasons by Il Sung Na
As birds migrate south, bears curl up and hibernate, and deer travel far to search for nibbles of grass in the snow—and a little white rabbit watches it all. Each animal copes with the cold winter in a different way. But as spring arrives, colors once again wash across the landscape, and our little white rabbit slowly turns to a warm reddish hue.
