I'll defer to others' comments on the accuracy of the depiction of March's autism (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1609657432?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1). But I can confidently relate that all the information about trees he relates corresponds with all the reading on trees I've done over the last couple of years. I found the overall story captivating.
[Audiobook note: I appreciated the way the narrator, Will Ropp, voiced March.] ( )

This is the sweet story of a boy named March who loves trees and his (mis)adventures exploring and climbing them. Last year I created a neurodiveristy reading list to read more books with neurodivergent characters and this was recommended by some other book lists. March is on the Autism Spectrum so he does have some challenges with personal relationships and social thinking, but he’s smart and passionate, he is surrounded by people who care about him and who want to see him thrive. His uncle taught him to climb trees and he hasn’t stopped since. Now he’s 14 and adjusting to his parents separation and moving to a new house, but from this new house he finds The Eagle Tree, a giant old-growth tree, hundreds of years old and unusual for the area, which is slated to be knocked down to make a new home development. He becomes obsessed with the tree and his desire to climb it and it pushes him out of his comfortable routine and he has to face fears and challenges to try to save it.
The author is not on the autism spectrum but said in the afterward that he’s worked several years with kids who are, and I found his portrayal of autism’s quirks to be genuine and not too stereotypical. I truly enjoyed this book and March’s inner dialogue, it is a little heavy on details about trees but I think that perfectly illustrates how unwavering and all-encompassing fixations can be with those on the spectrum. 4.5/5 stars ⭐️ ( )

Peter, who goes by his middle name March, Wong absolutely loves trees. He knows everything about them - their latin names, how to identify them, their importance to the ecosystem and much, much more. March also loves to climb trees. He climbs at least three trees a day. It's his love of trees that gets him to trouble but makes him stand out.

March doesn't have that many people he trusts or even talks to. He has his mother who is feeling overwhelmed and is facing the potential of him leaving her custody. He has his Uncle who indulges his love of climbing trees. He has Ilsa who he likes despite her being a minister who believes in God when he doesn't. And he has Pierre who is a professor who understands and teaches him things about trees. He also has his dad... but his dad left to Arizona. He misses his father but he doesn't want to go to Arizona which his mother keeps warning him about. Where his mother wants to take him in Arizona there are no trees and the idea of not climbing trees is abhorrent to March.

March, who loves trees and knows so much about them is unique in one other way, he's autistic. So he will get very loud and flap his arms when he is distressed. He is supposed to learn to give himself checks so he can control his emotions. He has a lot of rules of what he is not supposed to do which includes something he believes he must do once he sees it the first time - climb the Eagle Tree. But he may not get to do that because the tree is on private property and the owner wants to cut down the tree. March makes a plan to save the tree and then finally climb it. He'll need the people closest to him, some new friends, and his knowledge of trees to save the Eagle Tree.

I once knew a little boy in a classroom. I didn't realize there was anything different about him until he was pointed out. Then I could tell and I noticed how his speaking voice was loud and he never really could do what he was told. It's interesting that I would read The Eagle Tree after my experience with the little boy because I don't think I ever would have cared or understood or want to understand about March like I did when I read his story. I've always liked that books can do that - connect with your real life and what someone typed on some pages. Also, it can help you gain more perspective on someone's own perspective on life. Seeing life through March's eyes felt eye-opening to me because I felt like I knew a little more about that little boy I met in a classroom.

March's knowledge of trees was so vast. Everything had to be logical for him, true, which was why I wasn't surprised he didn't believe in God. A lot of logical people I've met have felt the same because according to him he can believe in trees because "I can touch them. And they have true names, They change only slowly over the course of years, and they do not change in terms of what they say to me." I thought it was interesting to see that religion slightly played a role in this book. And in the end, trees are so important which March tries to communicate so much. Trees are life. Without trees, we couldn't live.

"I suddenly felt that I like Ilsa very much, even though I do not believe in God. I felt like standing up and shouting out to Ilsa that she was right. But I tried hard and I resisted the urge to stand up and shout. She was telling people to look at trees. We should all look at trees. All the time."

March's love of trees and his want to climb a particular tree led him without really knowing it to improve his life for the better. He got to meet people who cared about trees. There was one instance that gave me so much joy when he met someone that he could talk to about trees his own age and they could, in turn, talk about something they had great knowledge of. Even if a lot of the information about trees that March gave went over my head, I was still able to decipher the meaning behind what he wanted and needed to communicate.

I really enjoyed the talk about trees. It's made me worried about how we've all gone away from nature. It worries me that we are destroying everything and one day there will no trees left so thanks for that March! The Eagle Tree also made me see life through a new perspective which I always enjoy when it comes to books. Even though the author scared me half to death a couple of times when it came to March, I loved his writing. It was perfect for telling March and the Eagle Tree's story. ( )

This novel is given from the perspective of a 14-year-old autistic boy who loves trees. I think that it does a good job of letting the reader see a little of what autism is like but it wasn't as good as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ( )

Trees are beautiful. Trees are awe inspiring. Trees are necessary to the continued health of our planet and of the human race. Each part of the country and the world has different trees that tell us different things about our local environment. Sometimes the presence of a tree that shouldn't grow in one particular habitat is invasive and negative and other times it is a wonderful gift. In Ned Hayes' newest novel, The Eagle Tree, a huge Ponderosa Pine that grows in the wrong place is just such a gift to one tree-obsessed 14 year old boy with autism and to the community of Olympia, Washington in which he lives.

Tree-obsessed might be too weak a word to explain March Wong. He lives and breathes trees. He climbs at least three trees a day, despite the scratches and dangerous falls that are part and parcel of his climbing. He memorizes everything about the trees around him from their common and Latin names to their habitats, the bugs that plague them, and the animals and birds that inhabit their branches. He is a veritable encyclopedia of knowledge about trees. He's also autistic. He flutters his hands in front of his face to simulate sunlight winking through leaves, he flaps, he moans, he doesn't like to look people in the face, he needs routine, and he struggles to interact appropriately with others. His intense, narrow focus on trees has resulted in his parents separating (his mother can't and won't move him to treeless Arizona where his father lives) and has also caused the state to want to evaluate whether he is safe in his mother's care since he keeps being injured by his climbing or by his reaction to not being able to climb. Neither of these consequences seem to have much impact on March though, as long as he is still moving towards his ultimate goal, climbing the Eagle Tree, a magnificent tree he spotted in the distance when climbing a neighbor's tree.

The novel is told in the first person from March's perspective. And his perspective is not one we are used to reading. In fact, it is sometimes painful or hard to read when he shuts down, disengaging from whatever is going on around him and retreating into his extreme fascination with trees. Because we are in March's head, we are told each and every fact that he knows about trees. This feels like it could in fact be an authentic look from the inside but it also overwhelms the action going on around March sometimes, minimizing the information that the reader is given about the selling to developers of the forest in which the Eagle Tree stands, and the vitally important upcoming custodial hearing with the state. Although it feels as if March's incessant digressions and intricate details about trees and climate change are integral to making him a believable autistic character, the abundance of information can be tiring for the reader. Some of the time the reader can intuit what is going on even though March misses the significance, doesn't understand, or doesn't care about it, but not always. March is a tough character to know as his mind is so often completely consumed by trees but occasionally there are glimpses of the people around him, even if March doesn't have insight into how he affects them. The ending was quick and easy, hewing as it had to do, to the outcome of the the real tree in Olympia that inspired this story. The novel is very much an interesting intersection between atypical thought processes and environmental issues all embodied by one boy and Hayes definitely knows how to write. Those who wonder what it might be like to live inside the mind and body of someone with autism, those who want a personal story about the effect that global warming is having on the nature all around us, and those who find an interest in both of those subjects together will certainly appreciate the book. ( )