Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Audrey’s Tree House
Illustrator: Jonathan Bentley
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Scholastic, 2015 ISBN: 978-0545813273
One day Audrey emerges from her room and announces that her father’s house is “getting too small for me.” Dad and Audrey go outside to see if they can find a new home for her, one that is better suited to her new, taller, status in life. The chicken coop is too small, the garage is too big, and the shed is too crowded, so Audrey decides that the best thing to do is to build a tree house.
Together Audrey and her father build the most amazing tree house, one with a staircase that winds around the tree; one that even has a bathtub that she can snorkel in. She also needs chairs for guests, a blue bed, and a stove, and her father provides her with all of these things and more. Then Dad goes down the staircase and heads for home, which is when Audrey realizes that there is one thing that her tree house does not have.
This book serves as a wonderful tribute to the love that can exist between a child and a parent. Audrey’s father is eager to give his daughter the one thing she wants, and later, he happily reassures her that one thing that she is missing will always be there for her. Whimsical illustrations are paired with a text that perfectly captures the personalities of the two characters.
