Andrea Cheng, illustrated by Ken Condon,
Tire Mountain
Front Street, 2007.

Ages 4-10

Tire Mountain is the touching story of one boy's struggle with change and his efforts to accept it.  Aaron Jacob Johnson lives with his parents across the street from his father's inner-city tire shop and next to a vacant lot. His mother is "tired of cars coming and going and the smell of rubber all around." Aaron likes being able to walk to his dad's shop, collecting old tires to build a mountain, and chatting with Miss Mattie, the widowed neighbor who lives next to the shop.

Aaron tries to understand why his mother wants to move. '[She] wants someplace clean and beautiful for you to play," his father explains. Aaron finds his current neighborhood beautiful and worries that his mom will find a new home so far from the shop that he won’t be able to walk over. As he struggles with the coming reality, Aaron quietly makes up his mind to transform the vacant lot into a playground using discarded tires from his father's shop.

Aaron's industriousness allows him to focus on the new goal rather than stew over the changes to come and, though it is never mentioned outright, it is clear he has decided to leave a legacy to his neighborhood. In creating the playground, Aaron overcomes adversity in many ways and quietly rejoices in seeing flowers and the community bloom in a space where there had been nothing. By the story's end, he has come to accept his mother's determination to move, and she seems to have gained new admiration for her son.

With Tire Mountain, Andrea Cheng (Grandfather Counts, The Lemon Sisters) gives a strong yet gentle message about embracing change through creating it. Ken Condon’s warm, oil pastel illustrations grow brighter as the story progresses and are a perfect complement to Aaron’s journey of understanding and increasing self-esteem. He is no longer the reluctant victim of external circumstance, but a powerful individual with the ability to make the most of his situation - something he and the reader both realize he will continue to do.

Abigail Sawyer
January 2008