This is a highly emotional story that follows the journey of grief taken by a family after their father dies quite suddenly. Each member of the family handles their grief in a different way but the main journey, for the reader, is through the eyes of the younger daughter Carina. She and her father shared a very special bond over science. Dad was a science high school teacher. Carina's father has told her a wonderful story about seeds that were taken in to space.
"On the thirty-first of January 1971, an astronaut named Stuart Roosa flew into space aboard the Apollo 14. They were headed for the moon, but Colonel Roosa wasn't going moonwalking ... his mission was to carry hundreds of tree seeds - loblolly pine, sycamore, sweet gum, redwood and Douglas fir - into space for an experiment. Scientists wanted to know if zero gravity made trees grow differently."
Carina calls these trees Moon Trees. She and her father had a plan to hunt for them all over the world.
Mum, Carina, brother Jack and Gramps have now moved from the city to the aptly named very small town of Forrest in Victoria. This is actually a real town with around 200 people.
Mum is grieving but for her this means keeping busy and not talking and not showing any emotion. The house is in need of huge repairs and mum works all day and all night and it feels to Carina that her mum no longer loves her.
Jack is just angry - he does not communicate either. Instead he snips and snarls at Carina and at times he is just despicably mean to her.
Gramps is trying to get on with life. He is optimistic that things will get better. He plans and builds a new garden, enjoys his coffee, makes friends in the town and tries to help Carina as she navigates this terrible time.
Carina is sad and confused and lost but she holds onto the hope that she can find moon tree. She is sure finding the tree will give her way to connect again with her dad. Carina does find the tree with the help of a friendly cockatoo and she also makes a new friend - a girl called Betty. This was one of those books where I just wanted to HUG the friend and thank her for her kindness and quiet wisdom. Every child who is suffering like Carina needs a beautiful friend like Betty.
Ways to identify a Moon Tree:
- Extra twisty branches
- Leaves that glimmer silver in the moonlight
- A feeling of being very ancient and very special
- Golden sap that sparkles with stardust
Meet me at the Moon Tree will be published by University of Queensland Press in July, 2023. I really like the cover by Verónica Fabregat Sebastiá. You can see other books by Shivaun Plozza on her web site. I expect to see this book listed as a CBCA Younger Readers Notable for the 2024 award. Huge thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advance copy (note sadly this wonderful independent bookshop is due to close at the end of June).
Companion reads:
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