One Tree by Christopher Cheng illustrated by Bruce Whatley

"When he was a young farmer, Grandfather woke to birds singing in his trees. 

He tended his fields and talked to his plants to help them grow."

But that was long ago. Now Grandfather lives in a city apartment. It is busy and noisy and the air does not smell too good.  Grandfather is sad and quiet. 

One day his grandson sees a tiny plant growing in a crack on the footpath. He gently pulls it from the ground and takes it home because he is sure his grandfather will know how to care for this tiny fragile new life. At first Grandfather seems disinterested but then he begins to talk to the little tree. 

"Then on my birthday, Grandfather gives me another potted tree. 'Two trees are always better than one'."

Over the coming weeks they add more trees and soon their balcony is filled with trees and blossoms. And then a bird arrives. His silent Grandfather begins to talk again - telling stories of his mountains and rivers and trees and fishing. Other people notice the green on their high-up balcony and they add their own trees and over time the grey, austere building is transformed. 

Publisher blurb: One tall tree on the mountain once marked Grandfather’s farm. Now there is a busy city and Grandfather lives with us in our apartment. Once he told stories but now he stays silent. Until one day, in the city market, I find something precious . . . something that brings Grandfather’s memories alive again.

One Tree reads like a beloved fable; a story that spans generations and could easily slip into despondency yet buoys hope in the most translucent way as Cheng compares the past with the present. Green mountainsides are obscured by city grim and skyscrapers. Individualism is sucked away in a vortex of colourless anonymity and sameness, yet one tiny action motions great change allowing transformation. This story blends environmental concerns with social awareness and family relationships all under a deliciously Asian cultural umbrella. And the thing that pulls it all together? Whatley’s exquisite illustrations. Dim's Write Stuff

The topic of urban renewal and growing a green city could be a fabulous mini unit in your school library. There are so many books on this topic. Here are a few companion books:

The Secret Sky Garden

The Tin Forest

The Extraordinary Gardener

The Girl who Planted Trees

Oscar's Tower of Flowers

The Curious Garden

Rose's Garden

The Tree at Number 43

Bruce Whatley is our IBBY Australia 2026 Hans Christian Andersen award nominee. I read One Tree many years ago (it was published in 2019) and I have often suggested it as a companion book but for some reason I had not penned a proper blog post about this book.

One Tree is one of the five books illustrated by Bruce Whately that we have sent to the ten HCAA jurors.

The Reading Time reviewer said:

This book is so simply but beautifully written, and the illustrations so vibrant and effective, that once I read it, I had to turn back and read it again immediately. The story of the grandfather slowly being drawn into helping his grandson with the tree was so touching. I especially appreciated when the grandfather starts talking quietly to the tree. Bruce Whatley’s illustrations are achieved digitally, but give the appearance of linocuts. This technique, in its blend of old and new technology complements the themes of the book: the old and the new can find ways to coexist.

April's Garden by Isla McGuckin illustrated by Catalina Echeverri

April and her Mamma have to move. The text does not say why but the illustration shows the desperation of this event as they run through the darkness, April drops her precious doll and mum bundles her into the car. Mamma says the new house will be good. 

It has a garden and lots of space, but all April can see is closed doors, no children and the rain-soaked garden is hidden because it is so late at night. Mamma suggest April might like to draw the garden of her dreams. 

Remember April lost her doll.  These lines from the text broke my heart:

"And then Mamma said, 'See what else is in those bags.' So, April looked. There was a doll with tangled hair. There were colouring books filled with somebody else's colouring. And there was a set of cups that stacked. April said, 'For a baby!'"

Then someone donates a few old magazines to the shelter and inside April finds packets of seeds. Those baby stacking cups are perfect, and the wet garden soil is easy to scoop. April plants and the seeds and then she waits and waits and waits. 

"Hope is a lovely, magical sort of thinking. It can help you to feel happy, no matter what."

"But nothing felt hopeful or lovely or magical or happy."

Eventually Mamma and April do move into a better place. Those little seeds eventually produce beautiful flowers and so the story closes with a sense of hope and happiness for their future. 

When you read this book with a group of older primary students make sure you talk about the way the illustrator gradually changes the colours used in this book from dull sepia tones and then tiny fragments of colour. Brightly coloured flowers are the focus of the final double spread. You could also talk about the two ladies in the final illustration - a social worker and a woman from the shelter. Take a look at this book trailer from the publisher Graffeg. 

Bookseller blurb: April and her mother have been housed in temporary accommodation. Promised a brighter future by her mother, April finds her life there to be filled with things that are old, broken and impersonal. She longs for her own things and for some beauty in her life but experiences only frustration and disappointment until one day she plants some seeds…

This stunning story about a mother and child starting again is very touching, and could possibly represent the experiences of mothers and children forced to flee abusive homes, or of refugees starting again in a new country. Echeverri’s illustration begins with dark, scribbled pages of rain and darkness, and gradually get lighter as the story progresses and as April’s hope returns. Beautiful and heartwarming. Book Trust

April's Garden was shortlisted for the Yoto Carnegies 2024. 

Companion books on the topic finding a new home:

A Place to Stay

The Colour of Home

The Invisible

Amira's Suitcase

It's a no money day

And I am keen to find these books also on the topic of homelessness and moving into a temporary shelter.

And on the topic of waiting for seeds to grow:

Oscar's tower of flowers

The Secret Sky garden

Lucy Willow by Sally Gardner illustrated by Peter Bailey

This is a book with so many plot twists I found myself gasping over and over again. Lucy Willow lives with her mum, dad and baby brother (Lucy names him Stench but his real name is Zac) in a train carriage. They had been living in a high-rise apartment building but mum wanted a garden and dad didn't like heights. Dad also loved trains so when he saw an advertisement to buy a real train carriage which had been fitted out like a house it seemed like the perfect solution. Of course, things are never that simple and when the family move in the train is still running but they are able to work around the train timetable and Dad can get to work in the city and Lucy can go to school in the little village of Maldon-in-the-marsh. 

Luckily for the family the train is sold which means it no longer moves back and forth between Liverpool Street Station and the village but the new owners need the family to move the train carriages off their track. Just as all of this happens dad loses his job so now they have no money.

Meanwhile in her class, Lucy and the other children are growing sunflowers. Lucy discovers she has a magical gift with a mysterious sounding name of green fingers. No her fingers are not green but any plants that she touches seem to grow extraordinarily quickly. Naturally because she is a child, a mere eight-year-old girl, no one will listen to her or believe her. But they do need to listen because dad now has a part time job at the local garden centre as an accountant and there is a big wedding coming up in the village with a famous football (soccer) player and the rival garden centre is run by crooks who will stop at nothing to stop the Peppercorns and their nursery supplying the flowers. 

Meanwhile there is a delicious extra thread in this story featuring the nasty and corrupt school principal Mrs Sparks. Spoiler alert - when Lucy saves the day it is wonderful to see this horrid woman get her just desserts. 

Here is the book seller blurb: 'There were three things that marked out Lucy Willow as different. The first was that she lived on a train. The second was that she had a snail called Ernest as a pet. And the third, the most important of all, was that she had green fingers.' It's Lucy's green fingers that save the day when Silverboots McCoy the famous footballer and his girlfriend Blossom B order flowers for their wedding - for Ricky Sparks, who runs the rival garden centre, will stop at nothing to get the contract for himself. ... Lucy Willow has all Sally Gardner's soaring imagination, enchanting humour and great heart, and is rich in scenes and characters that readers will adore and remember.

My friend asked me to read this book, which was published in 2006, to decide it she should keep it in her library. We have both read and enjoyed other books by Sally Gardner (see below). I am always thrilled when asked to read a book for two reasons. Firstly, it means she trusts my judgement and that's a huge honour and secondly it means I read the book a little more carefully knowing I have to make informed comments.

You can see I have given Lucy Willow five stars because as an adult reader I really enjoyed this story but I am going to say this book could move out of the library now partly because it is a little old-fashioned and very English (some of the references might be confusing for an Australian child). The children who use this library are aged 4-7 and with 214 pages this book might seem a little too long. There are twenty-nine very short chapters and the story does simply rock along at a perfect pace rather like an old steam train but it has not been borrowed for over four years. The copy is not in very good shape and, as with most older paperbacks, the pages are no longer white. My copy has the purple cover which is perhaps also not especially appealing. You can preview parts of the text here. 

Here are some review comments:

'A great read. In 29 short chapters we escape to a world saved by a triumphant young horticulturalist and her eccentric and likeable family. Bailey's simple sketch illustrations, lightly sprinkled throughout the book, help to depict the rich array of characters.'

'a delightful story, full of juicy characters... the warm style'

'lively and intriguing... A rollicking read, with lots of twists and turns that will thrill younger readers.'

I do have some good news. This book is available as an ebook and also as an audio book (you can hear chapter one) and I do think, even though it is very English, it would be enjoyed in a family as a nighttime read aloud or on a car journey where you could all enjoy the audio version.

Here are the perfect companion books:

I previously talked about The Boy with Magic Numbers and The Boy with Lightning feet by Sally Gardner from her Magical Children series:

Read more here

Operation Bunny

The Boy who Grew a Tree by Polly Ho-Yen illustrated by Sojung Kim-McCarthy

A little girl and her grandfather visit the library each week. They read books together and then the little girl asks her Babu to tell her a true story. A story about the tree. Now we flash back in time and meet a little boy named Timi. Timi's mum is having a new baby and so Timi is sent to after school care and then later to stay with an aunt and her family. Timi is a quiet boy who loves nature and the wonder of growing plants. He has a collection of plants on his windowsill - all grown from seeds. 

He is unsure how to interact with the group of children at the after-school centre but he does follow them to the old library building. One of the boys knows the code to get into the building which is due for demolition. They open the door and Timi, even though he is very frightened, elects to go inside first. At that moment some adults arrive, the kids all run away, and the door slams shut. I held my breath. Inside Timi discovers a very small plant pushing up through the floorboards. Timi knows all about plants - they need water and sunlight. Luckily there is a tap in the building and a small container. He is able to pull back the old curtains to let in the sunshine. He is not locked into the library but when he sees the kids the next day, he decides this discovery needs to be his secret. Whenever he can he heads back to the library to see the little plant only it is no longer little. Each day it grows bigger and bigger at a very surprising rate.

"He heard it almost as soon as he opened the door, as a breeze swept down the corridor and rustled the leaves. It was now no longer a seedling, no longer a plant, it was a tree."

Meanwhile his sister is born but now mum is even more distracted, and the baby is not very well and so Timi is sent away to another relative. It becomes harder to visit his tree but somehow, he is able to get there. Then one day the other kids discover his secret. 

Have you guessed the connection between this tree and the library where the story began? The cover might help you. 

This little book perfectly demonstrates the power of a story to touch your heart and it only has 117 illustrated pages. I am sure any reader aged 8+ will enjoy this story and the themes of perseverance, teamwork, and community. 

I am just so pleased to read a short novel of this quality and thoughtfulness aimed at the younger junior age-range. It's such a beautiful thing to see a writer and illustrator coming together to create a gift like this, treating their young readers with a respect and intelligence they very much deserve.  A Few to Read Blog

Knights Of are a publisher who never disappoint, and it is very especially satisfying to read something from them which is aimed at a younger readership. This is exactly the kind of high-quality book that should be on offer to children in the infant years. More please! Just Imagine

The Boy who Grew a Tree is a 2023 Empathy Lab title. In this three minute video Polly Ho-Yen reads an extract from her book. 

The publisher of this book is Knights of Media. Here is their set of junior novels:

Fungi Grow by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Diana Sudyka

In this book you will discover so much about fungi and mushrooms. How spores are distributed and threads called hyphae which are a little like roots. The colours used on some pages almost look damp which are the perfect conditions for fungi to grow. The only extra I wanted in this book was a list of all the fungi they mention - so many have such quirky and interesting names. 

At the back of this book there is a glossary, a fact page, a list of sources, a further reading list for children, and a long list of websites. Kirkus say this book is thin on detail but I disagree - the really terrific thing about this book is that it is sure to be a jumping off point fueling more curious questions about all forms of fungi.

In a school library it can be easy to think of your nonfiction collection only in terms of syllabus topics but really your collection should be way more eclectic.  I don't imagine many classes study mushrooms, but they are so fascinating, and I am sure a curious child and their parents will thoroughly enjoy this book which is enhanced with scrumptious illustrations. If you visit a library and browse near Dewey number [579.6] I wonder how many other books you will find about fungi? Here's one that is quite old but it could easily be in a school library as these Read and Wonder (later called Nature Storybooks) are so fabulous and most school libraries added titles from this series to their collection. 

Just for fun here are some of the fungi Fungi Grow by Maria Gianferrari - cotton rot fungus; pear-shaped puffball; stinkhorn mushrooms; yellow morel; deer mushroom; chanterelle; and rusty-gilled polypore. See inside Fungi Grow here. 

... readers will come away dazzled by the kingdom’s huge variety of forms and colors, a bit more informed about fungi’s potential uses for industry and waste disposal, and properly warned off from eating any found mushrooms without an expert’s OK.  Kirkus

This vibrantly illustrated picture book sheds a comprehensive light on the often-overlooked mushroom. At first glance, this is a book for younger readers, but each page also features more detailed facts and information about the fascinating fungi world that older elementary students will appreciate as well. … A noteworthy addition to all collections and a book that is sure to enthrall young biologists. School Library Journal

Read more about the science of fungi here.

You can see other books by Maria Gianferrari here. I previously mentioned Diana Sudyka when I talked about this book:

Grow by Riz Reyes illustrated by Sara Boccaccini Meadows

"Each chapter of this book celebrates the heroic efforts of a few plants heroes that have sustained our communities and shaped many cultures around the world. ... Hopefully children will uncover their own botanical heroes through reading this book ... "

Mint; Lettuce; Mushrooms; Daffodils; Pineapples; Tomatoes; Apples; Kale; Carrots; Aloe Vera; Tea Plants; Maple; Bamboo; Pumpkins; Orchids.

Though the book is non-fiction, Reyes lets a kind of horticultural narrative play out as we journey through its pages.  We learn about the different plants in history – when and where they originated and how they were used – as well as the various families that each plant belongs to, describing some of the other related plants in each group.  Most importantly of all, we learn how to plant and grow each one – what time of year to plant, how to care for them and how to help them flourish. Reading Time

Here are a few of my discoveries from this book:

• Mint is named after a nymph from Greek mythology - Minthe
• Lettuce is a member of the Asteraceae family - others are chrysanthemum, dandelion, and sunflower.
• Daffodils are used as a symbol for many cancer organisations because they are a sign of hope.
• Pineapples are pollinated in the wild by bats and hummingbirds.
• Botanists consider that the tomato is a berry because it has seeds and pulp and comes from the ovary of a single flower.
• Apple cores were dropped by traders along the Silk Road and so the seeds grew into apple trees.
• Kale is related to kohlrabi, broccoli, and cauliflower.
• Kublai Khan bought carrots to China in the thirteenth century. You need to know I, your blogger at Momotimetoread, does not like carrot cake!
• Maple syrup is made from tree sap and the maple tree is from the same family as the lychdee, horse chestnut, and Indian soapberry.
• All pumpkins are squashes but not all squashes are pumpkins.
• The Phalaenopsis orchid is also known as the moth orchid because a naturalist mistook the flowers for moths in 1750.

Riz Reyes is a hortoculturalist and that knowledge and passion shines through in this book.  Sara Boccaccini Meadows (perfect name to illustrate a book about plants) also has a book about the stars but sadly here in Australia Glow is way too expensive for a school library. It would make a beautiful gift though, as would Grow, for a special child or on a special occasion:

Oscar's Tower of Flowers by Lauren Tobia

The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again - Charles Dickens

On the opening end paper we are given a cross section view of a city apartment building. A lady in a yellow sweater is waving to someone in the street below. On the title page mum has some luggage and her young son is pressing the buttons in the lift. In a set of small frames mum greets the lady in the yellow sweater. Lauren Tobia (illustrator of the Anna Hibiscus books) explains on her web page that this lady is Nana. Please don't turn to the back end papers until you have read the whole book then the wonderful surprise will be sure to delight you.

Blurb: Oscar’s mum has to go away for a little while, so Oscar is staying with his nana. He likes being with Nana in her apartment building, but he still misses his mum. One day, Nana has an idea, and together they carefully sow seeds—lots and lots of seeds! They water them and wait . . . and then the seeds start to grow and the flowers begin to bloom and there are plants everywhere. Luckily Oscar has a great idea for what they can do with the blossoms—share them! This brightly illustrated wordless picture book is full of graphic panels and sweeping spreads that evoke the urban bustle of a busy high-rise apartment and shows how each person can contribute to the spirit and vitality of a community.

Do you have a collection of wordless or textless (IBBY call them Silent Books) in your library? This one is quite perfect and will be enjoyed by your youngest students. You should also look at this book if you need titles for your preschool book collection or library. 

Warm and wonderful. Kirkus Star review

It’s an emotionally resonant story that will speak, in particular, to any child who has had to temporarily say goodbye to a caretaker. Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Share this warmhearted story with any preschooler experiencing separation from a loved one. Horn Book

The illustrations, a combination of graphic panels and spreads, take readers step-by-step through the simple story. The artwork is bright, expressive, and detailed. Emotion is expertly conveyed through facial expression and body language, and some parts of the story really tug on the heart, such as Oscar and Mum’s painful farewell and Oscar lying awake at night. Reading Time

Oscar's Tower of Flowers is a perfect book to add to your collection of stories about greening the community and the joy of watching tiny seeds turn in to glorious plants. It is also the first book I have ever seen where mum leaves for an extended period (we don't know why) and a young child is cared for by another family member for longer than a day.  Here are a few others books about gardens and greening the community. Type the titles into my search bar: