Lou and her friends are BRAVE adventurers. They run FASTER than airplanes. They build MIGHTY fortresses. They rescue WILD animals." But one day, when they''re looking for a ship to play pirates in, Lou''s friend has an idea: "Up there! The tree can be our ship!" "Ummm ..." says Lou. This is something new. Lou has never climbed a tree before, and she''s sure she can''t do it. So she tries to convince her friends to play a not-up-a-tree game. When that doesn''t work, she comes up with reasons for not joining them --- her arm is sore, her cat needs a walk, you shouldn''t climb so soon after eating. Finally, she tells herself she doesn''t want to climb the tree. But is that true, or is this brave adventurer just too afraid to try?This delightful picture book from Ashley Spires, bestselling author of The Most Magnificent Thing, perfectly depicts what children go through when confronted with something difficult. With humor and endearing artwork, Spires sensitively portrays Lou procrastinating, making excuses, imagining alternatives and denying she cares. Ultimately, Lou faces her fear, and although she fails, the effort empowers her, encouraging a growth mindset. All the while, Lou''s friends model compassionate friendship by offering to teach her how to climb and then moving the game. This book makes a perfect choice for a character education discussion about courage or resilience, or a life-skills lesson on facing challenges. The story also promotes the joy of imaginative play in the outdoors.

I like this book a lot for a couple of reasons. One thing I liked was the illustrations. Each picture showed what the author was writing about. For example,when the author states that Lou and her friends like running "faster than airplanes" and building "mighty fortresses" the illustrations show Lou and her friends having fun during these activities. The illustrations also include emotions. For example, when Lou is nervous about the tree climbing you can see it in her face. Another thing I liked was the point of view. The point of view was in first person from Lou's perspective. Since it was in her perspective I was able to see some of her thought process. Once Lou's friends were climbing the tree she had multiple thoughts going through her mind before attempting to climb the tree. For example, one excuse she thought of in order to not climb the tree was "I stepped on a slug this morning. His funeral is in five minutes." And the overall message of this book is that sometimes you may not succeed but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try again. This message is important because it encourages children to try again and not give up. Lou may not have been able to climb the tree but she told herself she would try again tomorrow. ( )

This is a great book for all the little girls out there who do not want to be a princess, but get out there with her friends and play. She is a brave, fearless little girl who plays pirates, rescues wild animals, runs faster than airplanes and just has fun trying new things. Until the day that her friends want to use the big tree in the backyard as a pirate ship. Lou has never climbed a tree and does not think she can do. Her friends are having so much fun in the tree. They invite her to join them, they offer to help her get up the tree, they encourage her to try, all to no avail. Lou has more excuses than carter has pills. She finally realizes that she is missing out on so much fun, just because she is afraid to try. She does not make it up the first time she tries, but she does not give up, she will try again tomorrow. This is a great book for little girls. The illustrations are wonderful. They show the fun and excitement on the faces of Lou and her friends when they are playing. They are detailed, vibrant and have feeling. The message of not giving up, especially before even trying, is very clear. The fact that her friends encourage her and offer to help is also important to show about loyalty to others as well as kindness. Lou finally realizes that she can not let fear rule her life and that is something we all need to hear. A great book for community, school and classroom libraries. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley.
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This is a story about Lou and her friends. Lou and her friends seem to fearless and are always going on new adventures and trying out new things. One day they decide it is time to climb a tree. However, even though Lou seems to be fearless she has a major fear of climbing the tree. In efforts to not let her friends see that she is actually scared to climb the tree she tries to make up excuses, procrastinate climbing the tree, trying to change the plans and the subject ion climbing the tree, etc. This book was fun to read because throughout the book Lou was trying to seem as though she was fearless, but then an adventure came up and she was afraid to do it. It was funny to read all of the different ways Lou tried to get out of climbing the tree in efforts to seem as though she wasn't scared. I think this is very typical of children to do when they are afraid or do not want to do something. They will find anyway or anything they can to avoid the task, instead of jut admitting they don't want to do something. ( )