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Christopher's Adventures in Evergreen (Evergreen Series Book 1)

Wendy Cincotta,

Wendy Altshuler,

Eva Cincotta (Illustrator)

4.50 · Rating details · 2 ratings · 2 reviews

Lost deep in the forest after straying from a family picnic, a boy from post-World War II England befriends an awakened tree from another dimension, and together they must unearth ancient truths to end the war of the trees.

From a review of the series: "A fantasy novel meant for young adults but appealing to readers and fantasy fans of all ages, following the adventures of ...more

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Kindle Edition, 81 pages

Published April 4th 2012 by Evergreen Books (first published 2004)

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May 03, 2018 N.N. Light rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adventure, fantasy, reviews-by-mr-n, young-adult

A fantastic story for the young reader! An amazing tale of adventure, suspense and the power of belief!

Christopher's journey through the air door not only unlocks a new world to him but it unlocks something inside of him that he didn't know existed.

The best line of the book has to be 'Liar, liar, tree on fire!' I laughed so hard I disturbed other people in the lunch room!

A superb standalone story that is also a fine first book of a brilliant series.

My Rating: 5+ stars

This review first app ...more

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May 29, 2018 Nancy Foster rated it really liked it

A clean fantasy book for young readers featuring talking trees!

Cristopher is getting bored with the family picnic and wanders off into the forest. Practically by the second page, he has gotten lost, the surroundings seem unfamiliar and an arrow is pointing in his direction. Cristopher fumbles with the arrow until he realizes he's being watched by a tree that is dressed in a tattered blue military uniform. If seeing a tree dressed in human attire for no apparent reason wasn't strange enough, the A clean fantasy book for young readers featuring talking trees!

Cristopher is getting bored with the family picnic and wanders off into the forest. Practically by the second page, he has gotten lost, the surroundings seem unfamiliar and an arrow is pointing in his direction. Cristopher fumbles with the arrow until he realizes he's being watched by a tree that is dressed in a tattered blue military uniform. If seeing a tree dressed in human attire for no apparent reason wasn't strange enough, the tree starts to talk to him!

What the hell?

Cristopher soon realizes he passed through an invisible air portal while he wandered in the forest and is in the world of Evergreen which is inhabited by awakened trees that are intelligent (most trees are normal and remain in a dormant state). The tree which Cristopher colloquially nicknamed Sir Two (his true name seemed too odd and long to make it practical in his opinion) agrees to take him to Evergreen City to find a way to bring him back home... Which seems rather pointless plotwise because Sir Two owns an air portal key that is capable of bringing the kid back home pretty much anytime...

Cristopher soon discovers that the treekind are in a sort of civil war. A tree named Archer has secretly kidnapped the 7 council members and taking advantage of the political instability, he's trying to convince everyone to tattoo a number on their bark and proclaim him as their new leader. Sir Two is of the opposing side who disagrees with his plan to enslave everyone.

Nobody initially cares much about Cristopher (which seems a tad bit odd given there aren't any humans in Evergreen), but after getting bored with a meeting in Evergreen, he sneaks out and stumbles upon a few forbidden gold colored books that are strangely human size and discovers some magical secrets of this world.

A spy in Sir Two's group discovers the kid reading the forbidden books that trees are incapable of reading and he is kidnapped. Cristopher realizes it has become a race against time to discover how to defeat Archer before he enslaves the trees, and he must discover the 7 magical secrets of this world if he wants to help Sir Two save it.

Plot wise, the story is cute, lighthearted fun that is fully age appropriate for small kids. No swearing or overt violence. In a way, the book reminds me a lot of The Wizard of Oz book series. If you have read an Oz book, you'll probably like this one as well. At only 81 pages, the book can be read in around 60-90 minutes.

Elves also make a brief appearance in this story. They are described to be physically more like Santa Claus helpers instead of the graceful elves we know in LOTR. They are short, stout, potbellied, with elongated long noses and rosy cheeks. They also seem to have a haughty personality. They don't make a long appearance in this book, but they might carry a larger role in the sequels.

If there is one thing I wasn't particularly gung-ho about this book, it would be that Cristopher's adventure seemed to be way too easy. He solved the 7 mysteries absurdly easily (and yet, the book oddly enough never explains the solution to the 7 mysteries, it only mentions what they are). I think the book could have used a bit more hurdles for the hero and less unidimensional villains. They are bad guys just because they are bad guys. I personally prefer more morally grey tones for heroes and villains.

However! I'm not the target audience for this book, it's a book aimed for a middle grade and younger audience. I did find the idea of a fantasy series starring intelligent walking & talking trees that oddly enough live in a city (imagine the size of the city's buildings!) to be vastly creative and it's a strong start to the series.

If you wish to read a clean fantasy book to a kid, this would be a good choice. ...more

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