Gorgeous, vibrant illustrations.

What really stands out with this book are the illustrations. They are vivid, colorful and beautifully painted. Not many children’s books have this kind of skillful artwork. The Tickle Tree is all about imagination. It reminds me of a doctor Seuss book because it has words like: frink, Grimbles, blubbalub, wibblebird and more. Like Dr. Seuss books, the sentences also rhyme with each other. “Have you given a moonjack a ride on your foot, or cuddled a clumph and been hugged by a snoot?” Doing this with children’s books can be hard to do right. Many authors have tried doing things like this and have failed at it, but Strathie has done it well. This book has no real story line, which can be difficult to use in a classroom. However, this book would be a good tool to get children to use their imagination. Children have the best imagination but it can be difficult for them to use it if it’s asked of them on the spot. With this book, kids can read it and think of all kinds of things to think up. ( )

I really liked this book. "The Tickle Tree" is a wonderful fantasy book for a child to read. It is interesting, is beautifully illustrated, uses creative language, has a fun rhyme scheme, and has many words that are made up throughout the story. The story was about a boy going on this fantasy adventure, all starting with the Tickle Tree jiggling its twigs on the boy's toes. The story is a poem. It rhymes and is all questions throughout. The first thing I really liked that made the book fun to read was the interesting words that are not real words, that are present in the story. For example, on page 4 it says, "Have you walked with a wibblebird made out of jelly or perched on the paunch of a blubbalub's belly?" The words "wibblebird" and "blubbalub" are not real words but make the story more interesting. There is a picture of what I think appears as what a "wibblebird" would be, and also a picture of the boy on the belly of a big toy that has a big belly so I assume that is the "blubbalub." Words such as these add the fantasy effect to the story. The second thing I liked were the illustrations. Although many of the characters or words are not real in the book, the illustrations show a very vivid picture of what these things would look like if they were real. The pictures match the words exactly. For example, on page 9 it says, "Have you given a moonjack a ride on your foot, or cuddled a clumph and been hugged by a snoot? If the answer is no, then that's really tough luck. Without clear directions, it looks like you're stuck." There is an illustration where the moonjack is hanging off of the boy's foot, a girl is being hugged by the snoot and she is cuddling a stuffed animal which I am assuming to be a clumph. Also, on page 10 there is an illustration where a boat with two boys in it ontop of the boy(main character)'s head. This is showing that the boy is thinking about a journey and the text is saying if he has no directions then he will be stuck. Lastly, I enjoyed the rhyming throughout the book. For example, on pages 11 and 12 it says, "Have you danced with a marvelous musical meep or dunked with a dennyfish down in the deep? Have you had a pink puffalunk's last piece of pie or climbed a free fangdangle up to the sky?" When I read these words, I found it easy to follow along and interesting because the words are also in weird curly line shapes on each page. Since the words are in different shapes on each page, it makes the rhyming more interesting to read. It makes you want to continue to read. I didn't want to story to end when it did, but it was a good way how it ended. The last two pages are my favorite. They say, "It's clear that you're eager to get to this place, where snugglebugs buzz and ripunzelruns race. I'll show you the way, but it's not where it seems. Through the Tickle Tree's leaves and......into your dreams!" I think after a child would read this book, or even have it read to them, they would dream of this book or want to read it again.

The big idea/main message of the book is encouraging children to be creative and teach them that they can dream of anything in the world. The way the book is written makes these fake things seem real. Young children may perceive them to actually be realistic. Young children will then think about those things and be creative in their drawings or storytelling. They may even have start to have more wild, crazy fantasy dreams. ( )

It was okay. I liked the pictures. The colors were so rich. ( )

This book has colorful and whimsicle illustrations. The imagination runs wild in reading this book, written in the spirit and style of Dr. Suess, this book of made-up creatures and names takes you to a place of pure imagination, your dreams. ( )