Wishtree

Title: Wishtree
Author: Katherine Applegate
Genre: Bluebonnet
Age Group: 4th - 6th

                                                         
Summary:

This book, Wishtree is told from the point of view of a 200-year-old oak tree named Red. Every May first people come to hang their wishes on his branches. Red houses several animal families and is in the backyard of a Muslim family who is not accepted by the neighborhood. The young girl in the family wishes for a friend, however, several days later a carves the word "leave" in it leaving the family in a frenzy and feeling low. Between the condition of the tree and the carving, the police officers believe it would be best to chop Red down. This causes tension between animal families. Red and a crow named Bongo devise a plan to make the girls wish of a friend to come true in hopes of saving it. This makes Red having to reveal himself to the little girl and her neighbor, telling them his story. This encourages the girl and the neighbor to try and save the tree. They get the neighborhood to gather around the tree and the animals to wish for Red to stay. The owners of the tree decide to leave the tree up and do not chop it down. The main character makes a friend and is happy to be in the town even though all that happened.

In my classroom, I would use this book as a kindness lesson. The main character is being bullied based on a perception of how people think her family's religion is like, however judging is never okay. I would have a "wish tree" printed out and instead of having a negative word written in it I would have them write encouraging words.
I think the age group is about 4th - 6th grade because this age group is around the time students deal with bullying and seeing differences amongst their peers. This book would be an eye-opener for some children.