The Together Treehouse

Sam and Milo have the great idea to build a treehouse together. Sadly they don't get to finish when Milo and his family move away. Sam is upset at losing his friend and gives up on the treehouse. When a new family moves in, Martha tries to make friends with him, but he still too upset about Milo. He finally tries to build the treehouse, but it is not easy alone. Martha arrives and offers to help. Will Sam let her work with him?

What I Liked: This book is well written, has great illustrations and encourages children to deal with loss and sadness in a positive way. Sam loses a friend, but he soon makes more when he is ready to open himself up. Together they do something amazing that makes him even more friends.

What Left Me Wanting More: Not much - the story works well and was easy to follow. I perhaps would have liked to have seen a few more images of them building the treehouse and how it evolved from the original.

Final Verdict: This was a charming and meaningful book that would be helpful to any child who has had a friend move away. Change is hard and it is important not to shut yourself away and ignore the world. By making new friends, Sam was happy again. I would highly recommend it.

Sam’s best friend is moving away right in the middle of building their treehouse and he is worried about what’s going to happen now. Now Martha has moved into Milo’s house and Sam is angry and upset so he can’t see past missing Milo so he rejects Martha’s attempt at friendship. Martha doesn’t give up and offers to help Sam with his treehouse when she spots him struggling to do it alone. Sam doesn’t know whether he should allow someone new to help but he knows he won’t be able to complete this alone so he reluctantly allows Martha to help him. Along the way he builds a friendship with Martha and recognizes that he can make new friends while keeping old friends close to his heart.

What I Liked: This book introduces us to Sam and Milo who are best friends building their ideal treehouse right before Milo has to move leaving the treehouse unfinished. It was great to see this friendship at the start of the story to understand Sam’s feelings when he first rejects Martha and is angry about the changes.

The illustrations throughout this book are sweet and go perfectly with the text in the story. There’s a bunny that is included throughout the story that adds lightness to this story and also is fun because there are moments in which this bunny seems to be the same size as Sam. The illustrations also do a great job of showcasing the different emotions that Sam goes through as he copes with his friend moving away.

Final Verdict: The Together Treehouse is a sweet book about benig open to new friends and learning the value of accepting new friendships alongside old friends. Children ages 4 and up will love the imagination that is highlighted through this book as Sam and Martha work together and combine their ideas to make a fabulous treehouse.