This is a beautiful book, great for exploring the seasons and nature. There are little cutouts on the page for young readers to feel. This is a nice companion to Britta Teckentrup's other picture book, Moon. ( )

Britta Teckentrup creates a fun picture book that engages the young reader with seasons and cut-out pages. This hardcover book invites the reader in first with an owl, where the seemingly majestic tree continues to reveal more and more animals throughout the seasons. This book offers a focus on particular animal scenes that may correlate with certain seasons, such as bees humming in the summer sky and the lonesome owl in the icy chill of winter. ( )

I loved this book for 2 main reasons: the pictures/appearance and the language. The book describes the seasons throughout the story using rhyming. For each season, it explains the kinds of animals that are present, the weather, and food that is ripe.
The pictures are what drew me to read this book. When you open the book, each page the owl stays in the middle, and the tree changed leaves and habitats. For example, on winter the picture shows snow flakes falling next to a bare red tree. In the background it looks like christmas trees holding snow. As you turn the page, snow is melting and spring is coming. There are a few flowers, snow is on the ground but there are some more bushes around the tree. When you turn one more page, it shows spring time is here. The trees are full of life with different colors and flowers, there are birds chirping, and green grass all around the tree. I loved how the pictures described the seasons. It didn't jump from one season to the next, but it shows you the in-between parts of the seasons as well. On each page, the pictures add meaning to the text. When it says "autumn leaves turn red and gold. Days are warm and nights grow cold," the page is full of fall colors like brown and red. Reading that is one thing, but seeing a tree full of fall-colored leaves helps you feel what the season is like.
The language was descriptive, and the lines on each page rhymed in a poem. Each season was described with the perfect words like "winter's icy chill," and "blossoms fall and leaves are growing. A gentle springtime breeze is blowing." The words the author used varied throughout the seasons, and the adjectives she used throughout the story helped me as a reader feel the tone the author was setting. The way the lines rhymed made the story flow from page to page. On one page the author states "birds are singing, foxes play. Summertime is on its way." The way the words are arranged helps the sentences flow and engaging for younger students. ( )

"Tree: A Peek-Through Picture Book" by Britta Teckentrup is a creative book that shows students what may happen to trees throughout the course of a year. The author uses a rhyming scheme which makes it flow and easy to read. The illustrations have holes in the pictures to portray animals that live in the tree over the course of a year. The book shows how the leaves turn colorful and fall off during fall and winter. Then the book shows how the leaves grow back and and bloom apples during spring and summer. The book is a great way to introduce children to a tree's life cycle and what happens to trees when the seasons change. ( )