Usually I prefer a non-rhyming format when it comes to reading a picture book, especially or even though it is for a younger audience. However, A Tree Is a Community might have benefited from a rhyme format. Yet, the way it is presented is well done and is executed well. The text is wonderfully expressive and poetic (the leaves are like dresses; seeds grow and WHOOSH!) and I think it would be fun to read aloud (personally I think a one-on-one setting is best, but the group setting is not necessarily not accessible).
The artwork is simple, Kate Cosgrove takes the story/prose of David L. Harrison, and gives it accents in a more abstract, but still recognizable way. There are some popping off the pages colors, but also some can be a bit more subtle, but even then there is nothing shy about them. My favoirte page is the “purple page” with the bees. The text is fun on all pages, but this page really bounced for me. I also liked the squirrel, but that’s because it made me giggle (and yes, I will say it’s because I have the brain of a 10-year-old kid who sees “naughty things”).
Science and fun are combined to make an accessible book that is not “just the facts” but put them in a format that allows you to have easy access to it, so you are not realizing you are learning. The text and art mix together allowing you to read images, text or both to finish your journey. I read an online reader copy of this due in October 2024 book.