“Each person’s life is filled with both smiles and tears; there’s no getting around that. If you choose to take the extra credit option, which I hope you do, maybe you can find a way to share this that will let us appreciate not only the information you collected but the feelings, too.
History is about feelings as much as it is about facts.”
It’s a gift to know what questions to ask, and a bigger gift to know how to listen to the answers.
Sonnet has moved with her little sister Villanelle and their mother back to the family home to support her grandfather now that his wife of over fifty years has died. Her grandfather's home used to be an apple tree orchard but years ago the land was sold for a modern housing estate. A boy named Zeke lives in one of these new houses.
These two kids do catch the same bus but beyond that they have no interest in each other until the teacher sets a family history assignment. The task is to interview an older family or community member and ask them about their life in the past. Zeke met Mr Granger after his wife died because he and his mum took over a casserole. Zeke does not really know any other older people so when the teacher sends around a sign-up page Zeke writes his name. This utterly infuriates Sonnet - why should this strange kid want to interview HER grandfather. He has no right to visit her family. But that is exactly what happens. Zeke is an outsider at this school because until this year he has been homeschooled by is overzealous 'tree hugger' father. Zeke is not allowed a pet, a phone, any computer technology and his family grow their own food and follow a vegan lifestyle. All Zeke wants to do is fit in - to be a normal kid.
Sonnet is the protector her family. Her little sister Villie has a crazy imagination - she is a delight. Sonnet works hard to keep her happy. Villie invents a new 'land' for the family every day. It is also important to Sonnet to keep her grandfather away from sad thoughts. He is desperately missing his precious wife and the smallest things seem to make him cry. And he is forgetting small things and can seem mixed up. When Zeke goes off script and asks too many personal and probing questions Sonnet is furious.
The third voice is this book is an old apple tree - the last apple tree. These parts of the story and very short but worth lingering over as the old tree shares his wisdom based on past events in the lives of this family.
The Old Apple Tree
The little girl skips around the old tree in dizzying circles.
The bigger girl gazes at the old tree with eyes hungry to see.
The old man visits the old tree in silent communion.
But the woman... the woman never comes.
I also need to make a special mention of the school Teacher Librarian Mrs. Petrocelli - she has a stash of small chocolate bars in her desk for tricky situations. I love that idea.
Here are a few text quotes:
He barely knew the old man or the old woman, though when he used to see them walking around the small town of Wakefield, arm in arm, he secretly imagined what it would be like if they were his grandparents. His own grandparents on his mother’s side were both dead, and his father had, in his words, “become estranged” from Zeke’s grandparents on that side long before Zeke was born.
Sonnet and her little sister had each been named after a different kind of poem. A sonnet has fourteen lines that often rhyme in a special pattern. Shakespeare wrote lots of sonnets. A villanelle was more complicated, and Sonnet wasn’t sure she could explain it; she just knew it repeated a lot of the same lines over and over again.
“Our next project is going to be on oral history,” Ms. Hanh said, “gathering and recording stories that might otherwise disappear. The stories in greatest danger are the stories of our older friends and relatives, ... because their time is running out. They are closer to the end of their lives, and some of their memories may be already fading.”
The day the bulldozers came and the apple trees were ripped up by the roots like so many weeds, I’m not ashamed to say I cried like a baby. There was just one row of trees spared on what was left of our property, and all but one of those came down with some kind of blight. But if you ask me, they died of broken hearts, and I don’t blame them.”
“Villie,” Sonnet said, picking up a forlorn-looking rabbit with limp, droopy ears and tucking it into the crook of Villie’s arm. “You and I have to try to make Gramps happy. Or at least happier. That’s the most important thing, for both of us. Can you help me do that?”
“So what was your question again? What did I want that I didn’t get? Let me tell you, it’s worse when you get it and then lose it. Lost a child, lost an orchard, lost a wife, and now all that’s left is that one tree, older even than I am now, and it’s on its way to dying, too. The last place on this earth where my little girl was still alive.”
I read this book on my Kindle. The hardcover copy is sadly way too expensive here in Australia but I hope this 2024 book might be available in paperback soon. The publisher site says in the US the paperback will be released in October 2025. This book has such an appealing cover. This is a gentle story about finding yourself, revealing family secrets, and also about the healing of family relationships. A mature and sensitve reader aged 10+ will enjoy The Last Apple Tree. Here is the web page from the author. Listen to a five minute audio sample here (note it uses two voices which is terrific). The sample begins on the first page of this book with a poem by the tree.
A touching homage to the healing of old wounds and family relationships. Kirkus Star review
Each complex and well-meaning character suffers personal challenges and tragedies on their own, which leads to confusion, dishonesty, and further isolation. As tensions build, the characters are cornered into finally being true to one another, and they discover understanding, compassion, and release. Horn Book
I am very keen to read this verse novel by Claudia Mills.
Claudia Mills is also the author of this series which might be in your school or local library.
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