The Only Branch on the Family Tree by Sherryl Clark illustrated by Astred Hicks

Gemma's teacher sets a school assignment - draw and present your family tree. Everyone seems to be able to this easily - all except Gemma. Her family is just two people. No grandparents, no dad, no siblings, no cousins. Luckily Gemma is a problem solver so she decides to make a collage of pictures of 'mum and me'.

I started with the old photos

she'd put away

in boxes

and saved on the computer.

...

I found pictures of Mum

with her mum and dad

it's awful that they're gone

'they died,' she said

but then I found one photo

on the computer

that said something different.

Gemma discovers she does have a grandmother, and that she is alive, and even more surprising she does not live very far away. 

So now as a reader you will have lots of questions:

• Why did mum tell Gemma her grandmother had died?
• Will Gemma be able to find her grandmother?
• What will her grandmother say when she meets Gemma?
• Can Gemma solve this mystery and can she be brave and confront her mum about this lie?
• And are we heading for a happy ending for this family?

As with all good verse novels there is a deep emotional layer to this story. Readers aged 9+ are sure to enjoy this book and because it is so very short it is also perfect for reluctant readers. I also think this book might hook a few kids onto reading. Congratulations to UQP on the fabulous cover design - very appealing. 

This lovely verse novel from UQP and Sherryl Clark looks at family dynamics from a different perspective – about estrangement and isolation within families, because not every family is the same. ... Whilst the book doesn’t touch on the specifics of the conflict and estrangement, I think this is what makes it so much more powerful and allows readers to see themselves in this novel, especially if they have been through similar experiences to Gemma. The Book Muse

A couple of weeks ago I read Just Like Jackie. It is such a similar story and would be a perfect companion book to read after The Only Branch of the Family Tree.

Just like Jackie

I was so excited when UQP offered to send me this new verse novel by Sherryl Clark - I am a huge fan of her work and we had a brilliant day many years ago when she visited my school. I read all of these to children in my school library over many years:

This is one of my favourite Verse Novels

I need to find a copy for my own shelves

Hope you can find this one - perfect for all girls in Grade Six

Motormouth

 Mina and the whole wide world

POST UPDATE: I just discovered another book that includes the plot point of drawing up a family tree as part of a class project. I have added this book to my own "to read" list.

Publisher blurb: It’s the first week of middle school, and Ash (don’t call her “Ashley”) already has a class assignment: Make a family tree. But how can Ash make a family tree if she doesn’t have a family? Ever since she was four years old, Ash has been in foster care, living with one so-called family after another. Now she’s stuck with Gladys. And the only place Ash feels safe is in the branches of her favorite tree, drawing in her sketchbook, hidden from the view of Gladys’ son Jordan. As Jordan becomes harder to hide from, and more dangerous to be around, Ash isn’t sure who she can trust. A new friend, an old friend, some teachers at school? Sometimes the hardest part of asking for help is knowing who to ask.

Here is the Kirkus Star review.

Sea Glass by Rebecca Fraser

Over the last few weeks I have been trying to find and read Australian middle grade or junior novels published in 2023 which might be listed as CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) notable titles or even possible short list contenders. I am fairly sure this book would have been submitted and I was pleased to find it in a Melbourne bookshop perhaps it will be a notable title. I was interested to see this independent bookstore (Readings) short listed Sea Glass for their own prize. The Readings judge said:

There are no great adventures to be had, or mysteries to be solved in this book. It is instead a slim, simple story about a world which children, and their parents and grandparents, will easily recognise. Perfect for reading together. — Kate McIntosh

I did want this book to have a deeper emotional impact on me. Some of the confusion and disappointments felt by Cailin seemed to somehow resolve a little too quickly. I guess I anticipated a slightly different story line based on my reading of the blurb. This is a very short book which can easily be read in one sitting. It is a sweet story for younger readers aged 9+ who enjoy stories about family relationships. It certainly is a very Australian book with the references to a Summer Christmas celebration, cricket, Don Bradman, the Christmas day Queen's message, and eating fish and chips at the beach. Grandpa also has a colloquial Australian accent. 

Publisher blurb: When Cailin has to spend Christmas at her eccentric grandfather's shack at Whitefoam Cove, her holiday plans are ruined. She barely remembers him, let alone knows him. Memories of her father are everywhere and, to make matters worse, she's left her cricket bat at home. It's going to be the worst summer ever. But there's treasure to be found at Whitefoam Cove! However just when it seems she and Grandpa are finally making a connection, disaster strikes ... and Cailin knows it's all her fault.

Sea Glass - "Every piece has a story to tell." "Cailin picked up a few pieces from the table and examined them more closely. They really were beautiful, with their perfectly smooth edges and frosted surface. She could see why Grandpa had chosen to decorate his Christmas tree with them." "The sea glass was all different shapes and sizes. Some were round like pebbles and others were oblong, triangular, or whatever-shaped." "Every piece has a tale to tell ... It all starts with what it used to be and where it came from." "Anything that originally started out as glass. Broken bottles that once held beer, wine, juice, milk, even perfume. ... You'd be surprised what ends up in the sea ... It sinks to the bottom of the ocean, breaks apart as it tosses against coral and rocks, and little pieces of it gradually become smoother and smoother after years of rolling against the ocean floor. Until finally, the sea glass gets tossed up on the shore as beautiful sea gems for us to find."

Image Source: Galicia Spain

Here is an interview with Melbourne author Rebecca Fraser. Read more about Rebecca Fraser here. And here are ten questions with Rebecca Fraser.  Listen to an audio sample here. Here is a 39 minute interview by Reading with a Chance of Tacos.

Click these review comments to read more plot details:

Every word in every sentence is beautiful. Visual descriptions place the reader directly in the characters’ lives and helps them experience the emotions that are portrayed on the page. Kids'  Book Review

Sea Glass is a calm yet captivating book about reconnecting with family, how grief and loss affects people, the importance of keeping memories and traditions alive for the next generation, and owning up to your mistakes and prejudices. This is a deceptively complex book with strong themes hidden in quiet and unadorned writing, making it a joy to read. Story Links

This tender story explores the power of family, unbreakable family ties, the diverse ways loss and grief may impact individuals and how they cope in the aftermath of such loss. It also explores what at times can feel like a massive intergenerational chasm, yet one that can be bridged by sharing an interest, exploring nature and treasure hunting. This story is also a celebration of the many and beautiful ways a grandparent can influence family dynamics – they are caregivers, teachers, a link to the past, keepers of stories, sharers of knowledge and wisdom. Reading Opens Doors

Everywhere Blue by Joanne Rossmassler Fritz

Yesterday I listed all the books (well nearly all) the books on my January to read pile. I know yesterday and today are officially really December but I have already begun and have finished two of the books! Yes I did say two.

Everywhere Blue is a new discovery and it is a verse novel and yes you do already know this but, I need to say it again - I love verse novels. They are fast, the are emotional, they are often very insightful and they are always so satisfying. If you are ever in a reading slump I highly recommend finding a verse novel (it's okay there are some written for adults too). 

Madrigal, you could be a metronome. You're so precise. ...

Mr Rimondi is the only one who uses

my real name.

Everyone else calls me Maddie,

except Aria calls me Mad

and Strum calls me M.

They both hate the musical

names our parents gave us.

But I like them.

They define us as a family

even if sometimes

there is dissonance.

There are some things we can take away from this text quote. Maddie lives with her musical parents and older brother and older sister. Maddie takes music lessons - she plays the oboe. This book is filled with musical references and references to classical music (I loved that part).

The dissonance is between Strum, aged 18, and his father. Strum is deeply concerned about our planet and about our human impact and of course about global warming and climate change. His dad thinks all of this is nonsense and to make things worse he seems to impose unfair rules on the family.

Maddie has a brilliant mind. She is in Grade Seven but attends a Grade Eight geometry class each week on a nearby campus. Maddie also has ambition. She wants to play the oboe solo at the upcoming concert but she is only second oboe and it seems Oliver, first oboe, will be the one to play the beautiful music from Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev. With all the turmoil around her Maddie is anxious and her anxiety can be seen from her obsession with numbers. There are safe and lucky numbers and numbers which mean everything is sure to go wrong. Maddie is a counter (I am a counter too). She counts steps, and floorboards and really anything as a way to calm down. 

Maddie compulsively counts objects and believes that even numbers are the best. She is a gifted math student who appreciates order and regularity, eating the same precisely prepared sandwich for lunch every day. Kirkus

After her oboe lesson her mum usually picks her up but today it is her sister Aria and she has some bad news. Strum is missing. He has walked away from his university and no one knows where he has gone. Over the coming weeks Maddie watches her family disintegrate. 

Music mentioned in this book. I suggest listening to these while you read this book:

• Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev
• Morning Mood from the Peer Gynt Suites by Edvard Greig
• String quartet No.2 in D Major by Alexander Borodin
• Adagio for strings by Samuel Barber
• Largo from Symphony No.9 by Antonin Dvorak
• Nutcracker suite by Tchaikovsky
• Rhapsody in Blue by George Geershwin
• Bolero by Maurice Ravel
• Ode to Joy from Symphony No.9 by Beethoven

I highly recommend Everywhere Blue especially for sensitive readers 10+ who enjoy verse novels and stories filled with genuine emotions. I really like the cover by Elena Megalos but it does slightly puzzle me. Strum loves butterflies and you can see they are part of the illustration. Maddie plays the oboe - yes it is there too. Strum is missing and that feels like a chasm in Maddie's life I guess and we can see a boy with a backpack striding away to a remote place. But why is there a guitar? I guess because you strum a guitar and it matches his name? Blue is Strum's favourite colour. The sadness of his loss is making the world feel blue.

This book has several awards:

• An NCTE Notable Verse Novel
• A Mighty Girl Best Book of the Year
• A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year
• Cybils Award Poetry Winner

I am very keen to share some companion books to go with Everywhere Blue. You could click Verse Novel in my sidebar but I really want to tell you about another book where the main character counts things as a way to cope (this is probably Counting by 7s but I am not entirely certain - my memory is of a middle grade book where the girl counts things including the bristles on her toothbrush) and also I need to mention a book I read quite recently about an absent brother - The collected works of Gretchen Oyster.

I also recommend these books which are filled with music:

Just Dance

Fly Away

The Flying Orchestra

The View from the 32nd Floor 

(this is long out of print and the cover is not especially appealing 

but I highly highly recommend this terrific book for so many reasons! 

My post has a comment by the author)

Bud, not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

Bud not Buddy sat beside his precious mother and he watched her die. He now finds himself in an orphanage and as the story opens he is sent, yet again to a foster home. As in the past the foster parents are truly awful and the kid who already lives in the house, their son, is horrendous - cruel, mean and a liar.

After a nasty incident on the first day Bud runs away. He has a small suitcase containing a few possessions which were precious to his mother. He has no idea but the significance of most of suitcase contents but he is sure the concert flyers for a band featuring Herman C Calloway.  Bud is certain Herman must be his absent father. The brochures are his only clue but Bud sets out to travel from Flint Michigan to Grand Falls. Along the way Bud encounters great kindness and he meets an amazing group of musicians never suspecting the truth of his heritage until the final scene. 

You can read the full plot here.

.... the journey of Bud's hopeful heart that will stay with me for a very long time. Kids Book Review (Australia)

I actually thought I had already read this book and in a crazy moment of regret I also thought I had accidentally ordered the wrong book. Luckily both these premises are wrong. I have read The Watson's go to Birmingham also by Christopher Paul Curtis and we did have Bud not Buddy in my former school library but reading this book last week I am sure I had not previously read it so my purchase had a great purpose - allowing me to enjoy this very famous US book which won the Newbery Award and also a Coretta Scott King Award along with a host of state awards. Listen to a delicious audio book sound track here.

Here are some other covers. You probably already know I am bit obsessed with covers:

The First Book of Samuel by Ursula Dubosarsky

Let's begin with these three very different covers.  The First Book of Samuel was written in 1995 and so it is long out of print (sadly). It was a CBCA Honour Book (Older Readers) in 1996 and a NSW Premiers Award winner in 1995 so I think it should still be in print. The winner that year was Pagan's Vows by Catherine Jinks. The First Book of Samuel is a Young Adult book so to my eye the first jacket design is misleading. If you saw this title in a shop today you might think this is a book for a younger child.  The second cover looks a little 'too adult' and more mysterious than the actual story written by Ursula. I think the third cover, by Anne Spudvilas, is just right. 

Here is the blurb:

"On his twelfth birthday, Samuel Cass disappeared. Most of this story happened when Samuel was nearly twelve, and Theodora, his half-sister, just thirteen. But stories only happen because of all the things that happened before, no matter how small and sudden, or how large and terrible they may have seemed at the time. If the past had been different then perhaps Samuel wouldn't have disappeared. But the circumstances of his birth, the holiday when he was a baby, the mysterious, tragic past of his beloved grandfather, and even his own name - his own sense of self - all lead to a quiet vanishing, a dramatic rescue and a perfect discovery."

The things that happened before:

"Samuel was his father's last child, and his mother's first. His father, Elkanah, also had five daughters, but only the youngest of these, Theodora, lived with Samuel and his parents. The other four lived with their mother, Elkanah's first wife, Pearl."

The family take a holiday to Papua New Guinea:

"He caught malaria when he was just seventeen months old but nobody knew it. ... the disease slumbered deep inside him, like a salamander buried in the desert sand; comatose, innocuous, only struggling to the surface when the rain fell at last. And it would fall, as rain always does, bringing its own particular devastation." 

Who is Samuel?

"Gentle as a baby, Samuel had grown into a quiescent infants, a taciturn toddler, and a rather gloomy kindergarten pupil. He was the kind of child who speaks slowly and is rarely driven into fits of passion that express themselves in beating limbs and rising screams."

Who are the characters in this book?

Samuel

Theodora - she like to write everything, everything, everything down as she observes life

Hannah - mother to Samuel and step mother to Theodora

Pearl - mother to Theodora

Elkanah - father to Samuel and Theodora, opera singer

Elias - father to Hannah and grandfather of Samuel "Samuel knew nothing about Elias's family except that they were all dead. They had all been murdered all those years ago in Europe, half the world away, when huge armies gathered against each other, guided by terrifying figures on black-and-white newsreels, with black moustaches and jerking hands thrust high in the air."

Rhody - father to Pearl and grandfather to Theodora

Randolph Butcher - a new friend who comes to visit Hannah.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Samuel himself is such an authentic character. Life is confusing and he has great difficulty expressing his thoughts and worries as his noisy family bump and crash around him. Samuel is part of a complex family structure. In other books I have found the focus on step children and various marriage partners contrived and unrealistic but in The First Book of Samuel it helped me feel such huge empathy for this young boy.  Equally the story of the Holocaust and the horrific events endured by Elias, Samuel's grandfather, were perfectly placed and paced in the story. At no time did it feel as though the author had an agenda or a need to preach to her reader.

I missed reading this book when it was first published. Luckily for me a friend who works in a school library invited me to look through her boxes of culled books. I was able to retrieve some books I wanted to read.  All were in very poor condition and certainly need to be disposed but the pages were intact so I am now working my way through the pile. On her web page Ursula gives a link to the bible story of Samuel. I had no idea about this story but my ignorance did not alter my enjoyment of this book. 

Here is another book cover - and this one looks perfect to my eye - it is the German edition:

Theodora's Gift (2005) is the sequel to The First Book of Samuel and yes it is also out of print. Both of these books are on the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge book list for 7-9 so you might be lucky and find a copy in a High School library.  I need to keep my eye out for a copy. Here are two very different covers:

I had talked previously about some books by Ursula Dubosarsky especially her book Leaf Stone Beetle.  Ursula Dubosarsky is our 2020-21 Australian Children's Laureate. 

A Glasshouse of Stars by Shirley Marr

 "This book is bursting with colour and heart" 

Libby Armstrong Beachside Bookshop

I am going to begin with two text quotes to give you a flavour of this writing.  Here are the first sentences from the opening pages;

"You have arrived for a better life at the New House in the New Land. It has been a long journey, the first time you've ever been on an aeroplane. It was nerve-racking when they checked the suitcases at the airport, even though your family has next to no possessions, let alone anything to hide."

Shirley Marr tells us so much from these few sentences but she also leaves so many unanswered questions. Where is the New Land? Who owns the New House? Where have the family travelled from? Why do they have so few possessions? Its been a long journey - is our narrator a refugee? If she is how did she come to travel by aeroplane?

The New House which Meixing calls Big Scary, was owned by First Uncle. He has died and left the house to his sister and her husband. Ma Ma is expecting a baby. Ba Ba will need to get a job and a car and this will be difficult when he has limited skills with the New Language. The neighbours - Mr and Mrs Huynh are kind and offer food and practical help but they speak another language (I assume Vietnamese) and so their food and customs are unfamiliar to the Lim family. Later we learn Meixing and her family have come from China.

Things at school are also confusing for Meixing. In this scene she needs to cross the road but the procedures with the lollipop man are so confusing:

"He thinks you're a silly girl who doesn't know how to cross the road. And he's right. You are a silly girl who doesn't know how to cross the road. Back where you came from there were hardly any cars. Or roads, for that matter. The workers flats you lived in, the deep wounds in the ground from where the machines took out the precious Earth Dust and the handful of shops were the only blights on the island. Beyond that was jungle and dirt tracks, and you went wherever you wanted. You were wild and free ... "

In the backyard of the new house Meixing discovers a greenhouse. When she steps inside she enters a magical place. First Uncle shows her how to plant seeds as a way to understand the past. Later she is able to share this magic with Kevin Huynh from next door and Josh.  "You know that if you call on the glasshouse in your hour of need, the glasshouse - suspended somewhere between reality and imagination - will never let you down."

It is not often that I say I really dislike a character in a book but in A Glasshouse of Stars the teacher Miss Cicely  is despicable. Her treatment of Meixing feels like child abuse. I shudder to think a teacher would actually speak to or treat a student in the way we witness from Miss Cicely and I do hope Shirley Marr was not subjected to this cruelty but since this story is semi autobiographical I worry that this part might be based on her experience.  Thank goodness for the compassion of the ESL teacher Ms Jardine. So you can  see from these comments that this is a book that makes the reader feel things. I loved the honesty of Meixing; the developing friendships; the fragments of each child's back story which we see in the glasshouse; the crazy aunties who arrive at Big scary; and most importantly the way Shirley Marr lets her reader experience just how hard it is when you don't have language skills to communicate your wants, needs and wishes.

When you pick up this book you may find the writing style is a little challenging. Our students are more familiar with either first or third person narratives.  Shirley Marr explains:

This is a migration story I have been trying to write all my life. But I also spent a lot of my life trying to forget and disappearing into myself. I tried to write it from a first person point of view, but it always felt too close and I would always pull back. Third person also felt so distant, like I was writing someone else's story. I happened to pick up a copy of Deadgirls by Nancy Lee from an op-shop while looking for reading matter while on holiday. I was immediately inspired by the first short story, written in the second voice. As soon as I started writing my story in the same voice, I knew it was right. I knew it was a story I had to tell while the reader walked in my shoes and saw some of the things I saw and experienced when I was a child.

The cover of A Glasshouse of Stars is beautiful. The art is by Cornelia Li. My copy of A Glasshouse of Stars came from Penguin Random House. In the UK Usborne have given this book a different cover. I love comparing covers with students. Take a look at this review.

Here is the blurb from Readings in Melbourne: 

Meixing Lim and her family have arrived at the New House in the New Land, inherited from First Uncle who died tragically and unexpectedly while picking oranges in the backyard. Everything is vast and unknown to Meixing and not in a good way, including the house she has dubbed Big Scary. She is embarrassed by the second-hand shoes given to her by the kind neighbours, has trouble understanding the language at school, and with fitting in and making new friends. Her solace is a glasshouse in the garden that inexplicably holds the sun and the moon and all the secrets of her memory and imagination. Her fragile universe is rocked when tragedy strikes and Ma Ma refuses to face the world outside. Meixing finds herself trapped within the shrinking walls of Big Scary. Her parents said this would be a better life for them all, but it feels like the worst and most heart-breaking experience of Meixing’s entire existence. Surviving will take all the resilience and inner belief of this brave girl to turn their world around.

Here is another review from The Bottom Shelf and this book also reached Ms Yingling in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Karen Yingling gives, as usual, a great plot summary. While she enjoyed this book she feels it is too "Australian" for her readers.

Here are some companion reads. Just like Wen in Tiger Daugher, Meixing also carries the huge burden of parental expectations.

Tiger Daughter

No ballet shoes in Syria

Front Desk