Song of the Trees is so beautifully told, the prose rings poetry….

The children are charming, disarming, personal, and not too private in their love and appreciation for the "sharp-needled pines," the "shaggy-bark hickories," and the "sweet alligator gum trees" which tower helplessly on "Big Ma's" land. They forebodingly await their devastation with their song quieted in an implied anticipation of their destruction.

The story builds smoothly and culminates in a clash of willfulness … and of the aesthetic forest which captures the reader with its tender personality.

The book has much to recommend it. Mildred Taylor handles her characters with a fine sensitivity. It is a story not only of trees but of children, and an interplay of their personalities is carefully woven into the text. (p. 434)

Ruby Martin, "Books for Young People" (copyright 1977 by the International Reading Association, Inc.; reprinted with permission of the International Reading Association...