Summary
When Winnie was finishing 4th grade, her perpetually bickering parents announced they were getting a divorce. Their primary concern was complete and total equality. No extra time for either parent. So one parent took Thursdays, Saturdays and Mondays. The other took Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays. Wednesdays were “free” days when Winnie would live in her two-story treehouse between her parents’ homes.
If this wacky schedule wasn’t obnoxious enough, her parents also started competing with one another to plan the most elaborate “holiday” celebrations for days like “Peach Cobbler Day” each and every day they had Winnie. Their elaborate plans consumed all of Winnie’s time. Her 5th grade school work suffered. Winnie’s best days at school were Thursdays, after her no-nonsense day to herself.
Winnie gets desperate. Her promotion to 6th grade is at risk, and she can’t get her parents to listen to her about how serious things are. Her teacher can’t get through to them, either. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Winnie decides to just STAY in her peaceful, neutral treehouse. And her friends decide to revolt as well and join her. This is the story of The Treehouse Ten.
Review
I have longed to read this book for months, and I am SO glad I did. What a FUN story!
There was a part of me that wanted to get distracted by plausibility. What custody plan puts a 5th grader in an unsupervised treehouse one day a week? What parents would get so caught up in their petty competition that they would ignore their daughter’s schooling? But I have seen how divorce and custody can bring out the worst in people. So I set aside my plausibility issues and just enjoyed the story. The rest of the story overcame my questions. And thankfully there were other adults looking out for Winnie!
I loved Winnie! She is such a great character. Her solution to the chaos of the Treehouse Ten standoff was so creative. Absolutely fantastic!
The format of this was fun. It’s presented as a school memoir project and includes diagrams, post-it notes from all of the kids, and transcripts of news reports. The format kept things fun and fresh.
I would put this into the hands of any kid who loves stories about kids who stand up for themselves in difficult situations. I highly recommend this one!