It is written like a letter from a dad to his kids. He starts by asking them to remember years before when they visited the place where they were going to build a house. Everyone noticed a huge tree in the middle of the lot. Adam thought it looked sad. Lindsay thought is looked nervous, and Sari (who was only 2) couldn't say "tree" so she called it "Steve" The kids liked it so much that Mom and Dad asked the builder to save Steve.
Steve quickly became the center of the family's outside life. He held up tire swings. When the drier broke, he held up part of the clothesline so their undies could dry. He was there through barbecues and campouts and dance parties...he even survived a sewer break and a lot of stinky water around his roots...
Dad writes: "Through the years Mom and I have tried to show you, in a world filled with strangers, the peace that comes with having things you can count on and a safe place to return to after a hard day or a long trip." Which brings him to the point of his letter: A storm blew through and Steve couldn't be saved; he blew over. But though he could have fallen on the house or the swings or the dog house or Mom's garden, Steve performed his last trick and spared them all. So, Dad is just warning them that when they get back from Grandma's that Steve won't be there to greet them...except in a different tree (as lumber for a treehouse) at the other end of the yard.
Yeah, I know I told you the end of the story, but it's kind of impossible to explain what a wonderful book this is without giving it away.
David Catrow, whose illustrations I love but who can slew toward the super-distorted at times, dials it way back for some mostly cartoon-realistic illustrations that are the perfect complement for this epistolary picture book.
It's the perfect book to read to your kids before there's a human or animal loss you HAVE to explain...to explain loss. And it's just a great to read--if you can keep from breaking up at the end. I tried once at story time...didn't go perfectly.