Family Tree
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- $3.99
Publisher Description
Eleven-year-old Tyler Stoudt starts sixth grade off on the wrong foot. She has Ms. Custer, the toughest teacher in school, who has announced that the schoolwork for the year will revolve around one project: a family tree. Tyler doesn't have a family tree--she has only Papa. As Papa said, her family tree was "chop down and burnt up. " But Tyler decides to do her best on the family tree project. Does she have grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles? Tyler wants to know, but she is afraid of what she might find out.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Tyler cringes at a sixth-grade assignment to make a family tree and write about her ancestors. She has never known any relative except her widower father, Jakob, who rarely speaks of the mother killed in a car accident with Tyler still in her womb. But with encouragement from her teacher and her best friend Casey-and help from her initially reluctant father-Tyler uncovers her history: Jakob is Amish, and was officially "shunned" for marrying Sarah, an "English" woman. Sarah's parents, disapproving of the marriage, cut off all communication with them. First-novelist Ayres delivers an intriguing plot and deftly paints a self-reliant heroine on a mission to find the truth. Tyler's struggle to understand her father's and her grandparents' actions and beliefs are palpable. But while the issues raised by the classroom family-tree assignment (e.g., America as a nation of immigrants) are presented in a way that may stir readers' imaginations, Ayres's use of neat resolutions and borderline stereotypes unfortunately renders her work a little more pat than poignant. Ages 8-12.
