02/20/2017
The boy who narrates Canadian artist Goldstyn’s story doesn’t mind being different. When he loses a mitten, he gets a new one from his school’s lost-and-found box, even though it doesn’t match. He prefers the company of his favorite tree, a venerable oak he names Bertolt. The boy knows every crevice, every turn of Bertolt’s magnificent branches: “When Bertolt is covered with leaves, nobody can see me, but I can see everyone else.” Goldstyn spends a leisurely time laying all of this out—his impish, loopy drawings recall the work of the French cartoonist Sempé—and Bedrick’s translation flows easily. When spring comes, the other trees burst into leaf, but not Bertolt: the tree has died. To give life to Bertolt one last time, the boy hangs the rest of the lost-and-found mittens on the ends of every branch. Because of the time and care Goldstyn spends describing Bertolt’s many pleasures, the tree’s death is a jolt, and the boy’s sweet memorial offers only limited comfort. Yet the story is beautifully observed, and readers will look forward to more from Goldstyn. Ages 4–9. (Mar.)
A 2017 New York Public Library Best Books for Kids Selection
A 2017 Booklist Editors’ Choice: Books for Youth Selection
A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of 2017
An CBC Hot Off The Press Selection of April 2017
A Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of 2018
★"Humor, contemplation, and masterful illustrations."— STARRED REVIEW, Kirkus Reviews
"Crowning the canon of arboreal allegories is Bertolt by French-Canadian geologist-turned-artist Jacques Goldstyn — the uncommonly tender story of an ancient tree named Bertolt and the boy who named and loved it. From Goldstyn’s simple words and the free, alive, infinitely expressive line of his illustrations radiates a profound parable of belonging, reconciling love and loss, and savoring solitude without suffering loneliness."— Maria Popova, Brain Pickings
★"Goldstyn’s playful prose is similarly nuanced, alternating between humor, palpable admiration for the natural world, unflinching honesty, and in the story’s final spreads, no words at all. Reworking notions of both loss and what it means to be alone, this is an imaginative, introspective, and quietly profound paean to life’s little wonders."— Briana Shemroske, STARRED REVIEW, Booklist
"The story is beautifully observed, and readers will look forward to more from Goldstyn." —Publishers Weekly
"A lovely look at introversion, imagination and the power of being different and embracing it."—Waking Brain Cells
"Goldstyn manages to convey a world of emotions in his detailed drawings, and captures the feelings of childhood—both its playfulness and imagination, as well as the sense of smallness that comes with being a child in a world of adults.”— Bernie Goedhart, Postmedia
★"It is an intimate book that implores you to read it in hushed tones with quiet pauses. Its sadness holds beauty; its sweetness never threatens to become saccharine. Bertolt is a truly exceptional exploration of ephemerality."— Serah-Marie McMahon, STARRED REVIEW, Quill & Quire
"Full of quiet beauty, this 80 page picture book talks about love, loss, and acceptance in a way that is sweet and honest." —100 Scope Notes
"We all struggle with processing loss. Watch as this sad, thoughtful, yet clever little boy performs final ‘rites’ for Bertolt. It is a moment you won’t forget."—Vermont Country Sampler
05/01/2017
PreS-Gr 2—If The Giving Tree had been French Canadian, perhaps she would have been more like Bertolt, the ancient oak and best friend of the narrator of this small, square book. There are many things to appreciate in Goldstyn's gentle colored pencil drawings, which impart a casual, thrown-off impression even as they embrace precise anatomical details of honeybees or cardinals. Best of all are his renderings of the rich textures of Bertolt's trunk: the whorls and deep crevices the narrator uses as toeholds to climb his "secret ladder." While hidden among Bertolt's leafy branches, the boy witnesses amusingly clandestine activities: boys stealing bottles from the grocer, a young couple stealing kisses, and the like. After Bertolt dies, the boy seeks a way to respond appropriately. Goldstyn circles round to the seemingly unrelated incident of a lost mitten, which occurs on the first page, inspiring the child to deck Bertolt's bare branches with an assortment of mismatched mittens. At 72 pages, Goldstyn's story lasts far longer than the average picture book, but it is charming enough to hold readers' attention. It's all rather sweet and delightfully unexpected. VERDICT A tender and affirming picture book for independent reading and one-on-one sharing.—Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Library, NY
★ 2017-02-04
A character who resembles the Kilroy image of World War II—with the addition of a mobile body—reveals himself as an imaginative introvert.His simple, cartoonish, acorn-capped head sways flawlessly from side to side, as the single-mittened character/narrator expresses his irritation: "Darn, darn, and more darn. Where's my mitten? I don't see it anywhere." His decision to choose a strongly mismatched mitten from "the Lost & Found" (lockers in the background imply it's at school) leads to musings—not over someone else's missing mitten but over being mistreated if you are different. This segues into the character's assertion that he is a loner who likes his life that way. Lively illustrations of solitary fishing, baking, one-sided chess games, and nighttime skateboarding—in a graveyard!—back up his claims. Finally, readers meet the ancient, titular oak tree, among whose branches the narrator has spent many enjoyable hours. Tangents emerge as readily as Bertolt's branches—among them, furtive lives of townsfolk (all of whom appear to be white, including the narrator) and observations of wildlife and weather. When Bertolt does not produce leaves one spring, it takes a while for the truth to sink in. In a burst of ingenuity that leads readers all the way back to the story's opening, the narrator memorializes his arboreal friend. Fine, black inked lines, occasional washes, and the remarkable use of textural colored pencils never miss a beat in extending the text. Humor, contemplation, and masterful illustrations. (Picture book. 6-12)
