Tree of Dreams by Laura Resau
Published by Scholastic Press on March 26th 2019
ISBN: 0545800889
Pages: 336
Goodreads

Coco and her once best friend Leo enter the same dessert contest. They both make a chocolate creation and they tie for the first prize- a trip to go to the Amazon. Coco wants nothing to do with Leo (her former best friend), she only wants to find the treasure she hears whispered to her by the Ceiba Tree deep in the Amazon rain forest. Bits of magic, lots of chocolate chemistry, eating lots of chocolate (really eating a lot of chocolate) and Amazon destruction run throughout the story. I did get a bit tired of the chocolate descriptions and found the treasure a bit hard to believe. But the Amazon deforestation and it’s impact on the people and animals that live there was interesting and something that isn’t often written about in stories for children.

Reviewed by Mary Lehmer, Freeport Community Library, Freeport, Maine