Applegate reminds her young audience throughout the narrative that this story is not a fairy tale. It’s a fair assertion, as she populates the story with talking animals. Applegate’s repeated assertion, then, may seem tongue-in-cheek, but it is also apt. Applegate wishes for the story to function not as fantasy but as a parable of contemporary American issues. Samar’s struggle with Islamophobic harassment is something very real and pressing—not at all fairy tale fodder. And Applegate’s message about loving and accepting cultural difference is an unabashedly political one, and an intervention against the increasing cultural and racial polarization of contemporary American life. She therefore has different characters emphasize the reality of the story in order to ground it gently in real American cultural, historical, and political context—and to enjoin her reader to apply its lessons to real life. An active approach to real-life issues will ensure that individuals don’t fall victim to thinking people make up or exaggerate pressing issues like fairy tales.

Red has three hollows inside of their trunk as a result of adversity. Two formed as a result of the incursions of woodpeckers, and the other formed after they lost one of their branches in a storm.