13 year old boy, middle child, originally written in Afrikaans. Feels like it would be good for middle schoolers -- just getting into boy-girl romance, hitting the awkward pretty hard. Some environmental awareness (tree sitting protest), some humor, and in general a nice snapshot of contemporary life for tweens in Africa as opposed to an American perspective. There's a lot of jerk behavior from Marnus' brothers, and kindness from the community. On the whole, an enjoyable read, if not a fast paced one. ( )

This is a very surface-level story about a boy named Marnus, who suffers all the indignities of being a middle child. Feeling not-too-special, he answers the door one day to find Leila, a girl who is determined to save a local tree from construction crews. They climb up the tree, with the support of Lelia's mom, if not Marnus's parents.

While this isn't a particularly unique storyline, this is a very simply told story - not a huge amount of character development. This makes it a very quick, superficial read. Personally, I like a bit more development, but I am sure this book has its audience in more developing readers. ( )

A Good Day for Climbing Trees is a coming-of-age story of a boy learning what it will take to be a teenager, of finding his sense of self in a difficult situation and putting himself out there. The characters are relatable for the middle school aged reader who loves adventure and has the added bonus of the story being set in Africa exposing readers to another culture from a youthful perspective. ( )

This is a short, interesting book about two kids who take a stand for a tree for different reasons. It is enjoyable, and gives the idea that even if there doesn't seem to be anything particularly special about you, you can do things that matter. And even if those things don't turn out the way you expected, it still mattered. ( )

I read this before handing it over to my ten year old niece. As an adult reader, I thought it was a cute story with a nice message, but a little on the mild side. There were a couple of poignant moments and the feelings were there, just not enough depth even for an early middle-grades book for me. My niece didn't finish it. I think it is in the same vein age-level wise as other things she's reading now, but when I asked her why she quit reading it she said it was because she forgot to finish it. She's already a pretty avid reader, so I took that to mean she just didn't find it appealing enough to keep her attention. ( )