School Library Journal Starred Review (Mon Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2021)

PreS-K This rhyming story playfully melds an often ignored counting concepta trillionwith the importance of tree planting and preservation, while also introducing a great number of tree species to a young audience. After a miscommunicated phone call order for a "a trillium, please" becomes an order for a trillion trees from a tree farm, a shocked brother and sister partner with their parents, friends, neighbors, and volunteers, young and old, to plant a surprise shipment of one thousand trees. The story's illustrations are key to shaping the detailed beauty of the trees themselves and the idea of a trillion, a difficult quantity for kindergartens and first graders to conceive, into a concrete form as the characters plant different species of trees throughout their community, from their front yard to parks to riverbanks, fields, and slopes. Cyrus cleverly portrays how a thousand trees would occupy the open spaces in their respective habitats, as well as the responsibilities of the planters. Like Billions of Bricks , the story's catchy, upbeat vibe reflects hard but necessary work, while the quick pace and energetic rhyme scheme both fascinates and instructs its young listeners about caring for trees. The full, painterly illustrations provide a rich experience of sweeping perspectives of the different landscapes in which specific tree types are planted. VERDICT Illustrated with vibrant natural vistas to amplify quick, upbeat rhymes, Cyrus beckons early elementary readers to a newfound sense of the immensity and importance of trees in the world. Rachel Mulligan, Pennsylvania State Univ.

Kirkus Reviews

A sequel to Billions of Bricks (2016) follows one family's never-ending tree-planting project."We never meant to plant a tree," says a brown-skinned kid with straight dark hair. Sister Lizzie, apparently White with light brown hair, asked for "a trillium, please," but the plant store employee misheard her, dooming the siblings and their parents (who look like older versions of Lizzie) to a hopelessly huge arboreal job, planting the first shipment of 1,000 in batches of 100 wherever they can find room. While the narrator first appears oddly disembodied against a white background, the following full-bleed illustrations are detailed and dynamic. Unfortunately, it's difficult to count 100 trees in a spread, no matter how well the illustrator spaces them out. The text also doesn't make it totally clear that 10 hundreds add up to make "a thousand" by the end. Rather than a counting exercise, this book might better serve as an introduction to tree types: "Spruce and hemlock. Cedar, too. / A fir for her, a yew for you." As in Billions, the kids join a multiracial group of neighbors, planting in parks, along roadsides, and even amid the remains of a fire. Turn the book vertically for one spread showing a full-grown sequoia. The rhymes aren't quite as snappy as the ones in Billions, but they're still fun. With any luck, the note that "there are more than three trillion trees in the world" will give readers enough of a sense of the 999,999,999,000-tree gap between a thousand and a trillion. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 45% of actual size.)Endearing, engaging, and environmentalist. (tree facts) (Picture book. 3-6)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

This picture book companion to Billions of Bricks begins with a comedic conceit: the brown-skinned narrator and their pale sister Lizzie attempt to place an order for -a trillium, please,- only for the salesperson to hear -a trillion trees.- After the siblings and their guardians gawk at the delivery, they spring into action, planting 100 trees in their yard before branching out to the rest of the town, a county park, an orchard, and more locations. Myriad trees are mentioned in Cyrus-s bouncy rhymes (-Spruce and hemlock. Cedar, too./ A fir for her, a yew for you-), though finely detailed illustrations don-t differentiate between each varietal or convey the scale of the numerical words. If the logistics merit questioning, this breezy endeavor may well inspire readers to take up a shovel and plant saplings of their own. Includes tree facts. Ages 3-6. (Mar.)