Tree Huggers

by Leanne Statland Ellis

The trees in Alex’s neighborhood are being cut down by the town government, and she and her friend Josh don’t like it. They decide to join BUST, Belwood United to Save the Trees, a group of people who are trying to save the final few trees that are still standing. But what’s a girl to do when no one is listening or seems to care? When your favorite tree in the whole world, Luna, is about to be hacked to the ground, and you kind of like your friend Josh as more than a friend and have some stiff competition from the pretty, shiny-haired Hailey, another girl who has joined the group to get closer to Josh? Josh is ready to chain himself to the trees in protest, but how far is Alex willing to go to save her beloved Luna?

Leanne Statland Ellis wrote Tree Huggers because, as a teacher for many years, she has encountered countless students who care deeply about the environment and want to take action to help in any way they can. As a teacher in Los Angeles, Leanne and her students studied the environment and became citizen foresters, often volunteering their time to plant trees with a local nonprofit organization. Many of the events in this book are true.

She has seen firsthand the force of children’s passions and actions, and she wrote this book to remind children everywhere that they are powerful people who should never be told that they can’t make a difference because they are “just kids”.

Buy it here: http://rfwp.com/5211.htm

119 pages, Paperback

First published July 28, 2010

About the author

Leanne Statland Ellis teaches middle schoolers in the Chicago area. She was inspired to write The Ugly One by her travels in Peru, including two visits to Machu Picchu. She lives near Chicago with her family. You can learn more about her and her books at http://www.LeanneStatlandEllis.com and connect with her on Twitter @Leanne_S_Ellis.

Reviews

[Ellie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was, by far, the worst book I ever read. (Spoilers) The book is about a tree that is actually named "Luna." The tree has huge roots, and the roots are uprooting sidewalks and costing thousands of dollars in property repairment. Now these kids. Alex and Josh, decide to chain themselves to this tree so that the city wont cut it down.
The entire book was a piece of trash. They make everyone who needs to cut down trees seem evil. In the book, there was a minister who wanted the tree to be cut down, and everyone was shocked that "a good minister can be so evil and cut down the tree that is destroying city property, and that the now evil minister will try to save the shopowner's property by cutting dow the tree that is causing the problem." This book made no sense, and was completely pointless. When Alex learns that the property-destroying tree was going to be cut down, she chained herself to it to keep the tree up. Ok, so Alex and the author of this book are fine to let trees, that can easily be planted, destroy property and cost civilians thousands of dollars, stay where they are because its a tree, and they think trees are better than people.
Not only was the message (that trees are better than humans) completely stupid, the book was poorly written. It felt like a kindergardener was writting it, it felt like the author didn't even try. I am actually surprised that this book was published, since it was such a poor piece of work.
I normally do not have a problem with people wanting to save trees, but this was taking it too far, and if anything it made me want to get rid of "Luna" even more.

[Leanne Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hey everyone. This is my book. Yay! Please add it on to your books and recommend it to your friends. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy it!