Title:  Annie Glover is not a Tree Lover
Author:  Darleen Bailey Beard
Illustrator: Heather Maione
Publisher:  Farrar Straus Giroux
ISBN:  978-0-374-30351-8
Year:  2009

Concepts: natural resources, wants and needs, opportunity cost

Review: Fourth-grader Annie Glover wishes desperately that her mother would pick her up early from school so she would not have to suffer the humiliation to which her grandmother has subjected her. It's one thing for Grandma to have built up her reputation as a community activist, but another thing altogether when Grandma's newest cause involves protecting a 100-year-old tree directly across the street from Annie's school. Even worse, Grandma has chained herself to that tree while wearing a silly outfit with pink high-top shoes and chanting through a bullhorn. And if things could not get any worse, Grandma's protest could jeopardize the construction of a brand-new community pool that has fueled excitement among all the kids, including Annie.

It takes the discovery of a unique historical fact about that tree, as well as reminders of the special role that tree has played in the lives of her family and friends, to prompt Annie to think more carefully about the seriousness of Grandma's protest and the costs of losing the tree. This enjoyable book provides children with an opportunity to think about the power of grass-roots activism in an amusing storyline that will keep the pages turning.

Review by:  Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children