In protest, students don't make like a tree and leave

Do you have a favorite tree? What would you do if someone threatened to chop it down? The sixth-graders at Geyser Creek Middle School love their 100-year-old weeping willow tree, but the principal wants it removed. You and your book club will have fun finding out what happens in Kate Klise's funny and unusual book, "Regarding the Trees: A Splintered Saga Rooted in Secrets."

Open the book and you'll discover that the pun-filled story unfolds like a scrapbook of letters, newspaper articles, advertisements, chalkboard jottings and memos. In the first note, Principal Wally Russ asks a fountain designer named Florence Waters to take on the job of weeding or trimming the trees. But Flo mistakes weeding for wedding and thinks the principal is asking her to marry him.

Flo arrives at the school with her friend, Italian chef Angelo. While Flo works on plans for the tree weeding and the wedding, Angelo plants himself in the school cafeteria and renames it Caffè Angelo. When Angelo insists his penne ai quattro formaggi (noodles with four cheeses) tastes better than the macaroni and cheese served in a rival cafe, the townspeople are split into two competing branches.

You won't "be-leaf" how the stories tangle and grow: boys clash with girls, family trees are uprooted, a student moves into the tree and kids decorate the great willow with "tree-eats" — marshmallows, fruit, nuts, cookies and chocolate. Flo sprouts a plan to save the tree by using it for hanging coats and backpacks — if only the principal will listen.

Book club ideas

Share "tree-eats" or your favorite noodles and cheese under a tree. Talk about what you know about your family tree or neighborhood's roots.

Take Tree People's Eco Tour of Coldwater Canyon Park. Explore trails, learn about tree cycles and take home your own tree seed at 12601 Mulholland Drive in Beverly Hills. For information, call (818) 753-4600 or go to http://www.treepeople.org .

Read "Eyewitness: Tree" by David Burnie, "Sky Tree: Seeing Science Through Art" by Thomas Locker, "Wacky Trees" by D. M. Souza, "Word Play ABC" by Heather Cahoon and "Cool Scrapbooks" by Pamela S. Price.

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This is one in a series of stories on book clubs for kids. Look for more ideas every Sunday in Kids' Reading Room. Send your book club ideas to Jo Perry at BookClubFun@aol.com. Click here to read more Book Club columns.