THE ABBA TREE

What is the titular Abba Tree?

The flyleaf explains that Abba is the Hebrew word for father, but most kids will intuit the meaning, as little, bespectacled Hannah tries to communicate with her tall, lanky dad while he grabs a nap under his favorite carob tree. The carob has a special relation to the Jewish observance Tu B’Shevat, and Abba planted this particular tree for Hannah the year she was born. Hannah wants to climb a tree, but she knows that this carob is young and weak. She finds others nearby: first the eucalyptus, whose “trunk [is] slippery,” then the pine, whose “bark [is] rough and scratchy,” and finally, the olive, with pollen that “tickle[s] Hannah’s nose.” Not finding any of these satisfactory, she goes to wake Abba. When faced with her request, he wittily suggests: “Plant an Abba Tree.” Hannah positions her father upright with his feet as roots and his strong arms out straight, holding branches bearing an upside-down bat and a right-side-up owl. This Israeli import, translated from the Hebrew, is quietly amusing, but with no real explanation of the holiday’s meaning, it assumes a knowledgeable readership. The naïve pictures, created with a palette of simple greens, blues, and browns, have an animated cartoon look that suits the quirky story. Hannah and Abba both have dark hair and pink skin. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 25% of actual size.)

A sweet father-daughter tale well suited for homes familiar with Tu B’Shevat.