Katie and her Papa live in a growing nineteenth-century prairie town. They join the other townspeople in planning a town square, and all agree it needs trees. Everyone contributes coins, and soon fifteen saplings, “spindly and green,” arrive by train. “In a quiet corner of the Square, Papa and Katie dig a hole together. Here they plant a flowering dogwood, in memory of Mama.” Kathryn Galbraith’s unusually poignant and understated story spans generations of history in its final pages as grown Katie returns to the square with her husband and children for the annual celebration of what has become Arbor Day, and towering trees shade the square for a twenty-first century celebration. Cyd Moore’s warm, pleasing illustrations complement Galbraith’s engagingly detailed narrative. An author’s note tells about the beginning of Arbor Day as a holiday in Nebraska in 1872. (Ages 5–8)