I Wish I Were a Tree

Tomorrow we will move on
A picture book about the longing to stay

A child dreams itself into the desire to be a tree. A large tree that is firmly rooted in the earth, that is alive and so strong that it provides shelter for many: for the nests of the birds, for the family of mice in the earth beneath it, for the brother’s tree house. As a tree, the child would be immovable and be one with the landscape, the wind, the night sky. It would have plenty of time to grow slowly.

Andrea Hensgen maps out the dream of a child who is not allowed to stay where it was at home. Who has to set off with his mother, father, brother and sister to a place it doesn’t know. Hannah Brückner picks up on the delicate threads, transforming the longing into bright images that are not without hope of sprouting new roots in a new place.