Judge’s Commentary: 22nd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards
In The Trees Have Hearts, the author has created a beautiful world where the environment is alive and three trees with a lot of character make friends with a lonely girl. The author did an excellent job of pacing in this story. It's sweet and moves along slowly, but deliberately, as the author creates a story of loneliness, newfound friends, confidence, fear, loss and finally acceptance. The illustrations are beautiful and really make the story come to life.
The author has created her own universe in this book. It's set in reality, but the trees come alive (have hearts), which the reader is willing to accept because you want the little girl to make friends. And the element of fantasy is believable in that context. Even Old Wind, because he's part of the environment, plays an important role and allows the author to help the reader see where otherwise we wouldn't be able to go.
The book wraps up beautifully with a seed planting as the little girl accepts that she's received what she needed from her tree friends. The author should be proud to have published such a beautiful book!
Look inside!
Thank you~
