12 Treehouses in Central Park

Up in the Leaves: The True Story of the Central Park Treehouses
Written by Shira Boss & Illustrated by Jamey Christoph
Age Level: 3-7 Years
Published March 6, 2018

Can’t stop, won’t stop.

Growing up in Manhattan, Bob Redman felt claustrophobic in the crush of bodies and buildings. Every day after school, he dashed to the quiet, green refuge of Central Park. At first, he climbed into the trees and perched on branches. Then he began constructing his treehouses.

From the time he was thirteen to when he was twenty-one, Bob built twelve treehouses in Central Park. They were repeatedly discovered by park authorities and taken down, but Bob would build another, each one better hidden and more elaborate than the last. Ultimately, the park authorities stopped thinking of Bob as a nuisance and realized he was an asset. They hired him to take care of all the trees in Central Park! Bob currently works as an arborist all over the city, which I imagine is a great conversation starter in the concrete jungle.

“Each tree was its own world, every limb an adventure.”

Want to hear a great meet-cute? Author Shira Boss met Bob Redman when she was looking for an arborist to prune her Japanese maple tree. At only four feet tall and sitting in a pot, it was the smallest tree Redman had ever worked on. He must have thought it’d be worth the effort because he and Boss are now married with two boys. I’m sure they have an awesome treehouse.