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This is the house where Jill plays. This is the oak that holds the house where Jill plays. This is the nut that fell from the oak that holds the house where Jill plays … So begins Sangeeta Bhadra’s The Nut that Fell from the Tree, a cumulative tale that pays homage to “The House that Jack Built,” and a playful account of how difficult it is for an acorn to grow up into an oak! The story follows the acorn along an arduous journey, in which, after falling from Jill’s tree, one animal after another steals it, it drops into the water and sinks to the bottom, is picked up and tossed away by a fastidious beaver, is eventually found by a squirrel who decides to bury it for later and forgets about it, leaving it in the earth where the sturdy little nut takes root, and grows and grows and grows into an oak that now holds the house where Jill’s grandson, Jack, plays. The jaunty rhythm of the text (“This is the raccoon, a sneak through and through / that tricked the goose with the bird’s-eye view …”) and the vibrant, humour-filled illustrations make for a lively, fun read-aloud.
