I've become a fan of this author-illustrator. His stories are beautifully simple, aimed at very young children, but are also quirky and fun.

This time a little girl is in the garden with her dad and starts pretending to be a tree. When asked why, she answers: "Because a tree gets to stay outside all day long!"

It's easy to be a tree, she tells her dad and urges him to try it. His arms are the branches, his body is a trunk and his legs are roots.

If he keeps nice and still, the animals and birds will get used to him, Madeleine says, but if the weather changes, or it starts to get dark, a tree doesn't move. Dad has to stay put.

Madeleine's dad finds being a tree challenging at times but he keeps at it, until eventually when night falls and an owl flies into a real tree nearby, Madeleine says they can go indoors to bed. She concedes "Dad, you're right. We definitely are not trees. But that's OK. We got to stay outside all day long!"

A wonderfully novel idea, beautifully told. I loved it!