The Tree That Was a World - Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF

Maria Marshall
Oct 16
5 min read

While you might grump that this is not a "picture book," I think any child who loves the Winnie-the-Pooh and Paddington Bear books would greatly enjoy these stories being read to them while they scoured the stunning illustrations. And middle grade readers will identify with the soul-searching inquires of the animals who live on, in, and around the old tree. While younger kids will enjoy the quirky, imaginative, and humorous voices of the animals. It's definitely a book that can meet various ages where they are and grow with them. Offering thought-provoking questions and observations to the adult readers as well. This is absolutely a stunning, engaging, and unusual book.

Book cover - a vast, old tree with a bunch of eyes peering out of it's foliage.

The Tree That Was a World

Author: Yorick Goldewijk

Illustrator: Jeska Verstegen

Translator: Laura Watkinson

Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers (October 14, 2025)

Ages: 8-14

Fiction

Themes:

Self-awareness, nature, animal behavior, humor, and interconnections.

Synopsis:

The interconnected stories of seventeen creatures all living and dreaming underneath the same tree.

The tree is as old as the world, covered in cracks and crevices―and full of life. A sloth hangs on a branch all day but longs to somersault through the woods. The moon moth caterpillar watches her friends shed their skins and decides to do things differently. The barn swallow feels like she’s lost something―but can’t remember what. The common toad disagrees with his name―and the duck-billed platypus might have something to say about that. The red squirrel has the strangest sense that he might be a human―for one, that looks like a watch on his wrist! Wherever you look in this tree, another creature has a thought, a dream, a decision, a question…

With spectacular art by New York Times/NYPL Best Illustrated awardee Jeska Verstegen, this middle-grade novel will charm readers with its imaginative storytelling and extraordinary cast of animal characters. Hilarious, surreal, and thought-provoking, The Tree That Was a World is an utterly unforgettable book.

Opening Lines:

The tree was as old as the world and covered in cracks

and crevices. His trunk was crooked, and his crown

was tangled, as if he’d just climbed out of bed. When

the wind was lazy, he swayed slowly and contentedly,

but when a storm rushed through his branches, then

he creaked and groaned, and his leaves rustled like

whispering tattletales.

The tree was as big as a world, and if you weren’t careful

as you wandered through his branches, you got lost in no

time. You could gaze endlessly at the vistas with hundreds

of shades of green. You could stroll for hours along paths

of bark, past knots and veins and puddles of dew.

What I LOVED about this book:

Beautifully lyrical and magical, yet realistic, the book explores an entire world centered around an old tree - from a tiny wood louse to a big, brown bear. The illustrations wonderfully capture and play with the whimsical and a times slightly melancholy musings of the characters. Adding a marvelous touch of mystery and curiosity to the story. The book begins with a lovely lyrical introduction to the old tree and a stunning, inviting illustration.

Internal spread - strands of white mist swoop around the trunk of a humongous, knotted and twisted tree.

Text © Yorick Goldewijk, 2025. Image © Jeska Verstegen, 2025.

The next story shifts to a sloth, hanging mostly motionless throughout the day, just waiting for its chance to "do some running, jumping, and somersaulting. And screaming. Lots of lovely screaming" and maybe even a dip in the pike's lake during the shield of night's darkness. After meeting two misunderstood pikes, seen from each one's perspective, we travel into the tree to focus on a moon moth caterpillar intent on not growing up as she ponders, "But how big is enough? More beautiful, well, who’s to say? And freedom, what does that mean? She didn’t need to be more. Simply how she was—that was what she wanted to be." Wrapping an interesting, philosophical inquiry into a disarming, Pooh-like simplicity of a caterpillar who defies the restless and fleeting lifecycle of the moon moth, Yorick Goldewijk subtly takes on society's ever frenetic need for more.

Internal spread - six, newly hatched moon moths fly up into the dark sky as a green caterpillar lifts its head to watch them.

I adore the whimsy and beauty which Jeska Verstegen captured in this image, with her subtle shading and delicate movement. After exploring stories of a perfectionistic spider, an ant whose achievement of freedom is short lived, and a very perception defying story of a red squirrel, the reader discovers a bear, toad, and platypus all determined to defy behavioral and societal expectations - just "Fuhgeddaboudit."

I have to admit I did chuckle at Annie, the "sleep eating," cannibalistic aphid. Perhaps because of the Alice in Wonderland type tea party illustration that accompanied the tale. It was fascinating how the existential crisis of the little owl, as he ponders, "Are you what you are? Or what you think you are? Or what others think you are?" interconnected beautifully with the red squirrel. Using a variety of connections - sometimes flowing from one animal to another (like the sloth to the pikes) and sometimes weaving together curious, extended tales (like the ant and the swallow) - Yorick Goldewijk keeps the reader guessing what animal and curious thoughts will come next. He even includes a little wood louse, who admittedly doesn't feature in many stories.

I have to agree that Jeska Verstegen's illustration of the universe fish is absolutely stunning and the accompanying story so heartfelt. It's a wonderfully imaginative, thought-provoking twist and a special gift for the readers.

Internal spread - a white moon moth hovers above a tree, gazing at in the night sky, an image of a fish formed by stars.

There are so many layers in the text and illustrations you can find something new with each subsequent read. It's an unusual, quirky, wickedly humorous book that will stick with you long after you've closed the final page.

Resources:

Photo of three free-standing paper trees - two small and one large.

make your own paper tree. What animals would live in, on, or around your tree? Create your own world around your tree.

which story did you like best? Why? Do you identify with the animal's actions, thoughts, or questions? What thoughts or questions did this particular story raise for you?
what did you think of the ending? Of the tree and the universe fish? What do you think the author was trying to say?

If you missed my interview with Yorick Goldewijk, Jeska Verstegen, and Laura Watkinson on Monday, find it (here).

This post is part of a series of blog posts by authors and KidLit bloggers called Perfect Picture Book Fridays. For more picture book suggestions and resources see Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Books.