The Tree House by Marije Tolman and Ronald Tolman

         


It seems rather counterproductive to use words to talk about a story that has itself transcended the need for words, but I will do my best.

Illustrated by a  father/ daughter artist team (and do follow the links, if you will) this book won the  Ragazzi prize for fiction at the most famous and important Bologna Children's Book Fair.  The book is published in the very way that books should be published - it is the right size, shape, color, thickness, weight, and, especially smell (I also judge books by opening them right in the middle and sticking my nose into the crease at the back. Good art books in particular stand out on the olfactory scale).

The main characters in the book are two bears (one Polar, one Brown) who arrive at a tree house via a whale and boat, respectively, and engage in a wide range of activities in the time that follows that include quiet reading,  hosting large parties for flamingoes and a rhino, among other creatures who arrive via land, water and air, laying on the roof contemplating, and watching the moon.

The first thing I love about this book, is that the treehouse in question, a cozy and safe structure that nevertheless lends itself to serious adventure is, I am pretty sure, an etching. This means that the treehouse is the same exact image on each page, printed on different papers and in different colors. Which is very cool.

The second thing I love about this book are all the amazing creatures that come and go. They are drawn with TRUE LOVE of the most special variety, the same love that the Moomins, and the Wild Things, and the Little Prince are drawn with. This makes me wonder if only the creator of a character can breathe this kind of TRUE LOVE into the image of their literary offspring, and I have serious suspicion that mostly yes with notable exceptions such as Pooh and Alice.  The two bears and the other characters in the Tree House are just truly lovable without being "cute" in that horrifying way in which so many "cute" characters in children's books are.

The third thing I love about this book is the respect that is extended to the reader's attention and intelligence. There are elements throughout the book that are clever and complex and address a huge number ideas and themes, some very personal and some very global. There is one picture towards the end of the story which shows an elaborate pulley system installed in the tree house on which a kerosine lamps hangs just as the sky turns pink at sunset and all the guests are leaving the tree house. The bears sip tea and relax as the day comes to an end. This particular picture is the most dear to my heart because  my favorite feeling in the world is when all the guests leave after a fantastic party, and I can quietly sit sipping tea with one other person, processing all the joy from the intense and wonderful interaction with people I love. I am also a fan of hanging things from the ceiling, to me, that somehow makes a home. Combining so many elements of what (to me, at least) makes our world a truly miraculous place, the book just invades all the most vulnerable places of my soul making me feel joy and sadness and hope and warmth and much more all at the same time.


The last thing I wanted to mention is the book's treatment of solitude. The character of the treehouse does not seem any lonelier when it stands alone than when it is inhabited by hundreds of flamingos or just the two bears. The bears seem equally happy being by themselves or with all the guests. There is a general o'kayness with things - there is no conflict, no moral, no resolution, no life's lesson, no betrayal, no forgiveness - there is just life. And the life that is described in the book is isolated and far away, but never lonely, even given the vast areas of gorgeously treated "empty" space found on many pages. The world is a good, safe, beautiful place in this book, and that feeling stays with the reader long after the book is closed.