Far from the Tree
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4.4 • 199 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
National Book Award Winner, PEN America Award Winner, and New York Times Bestseller!
Perfect for fans of This Is Us, Robin Benway’s beautiful interweaving story of three very different teenagers connected by blood explores the meaning of family in all its forms—how to find it, how to keep it, and how to love it.
Being the middle child has its ups and downs.
But for Grace, an only child who was adopted at birth, discovering that she is a middle child is a different ride altogether. After putting her own baby up for adoption, she goes looking for her biological family, including—
Maya, her loudmouthed younger bio sister, who has a lot to say about their newfound family ties. Having grown up the snarky brunette in a house full of chipper redheads, she’s quick to search for traces of herself among these not-quite-strangers. And when her adopted family’s long-buried problems begin to explode to the surface, Maya can’t help but wonder where exactly it is that she belongs.
And Joaquin, their stoic older bio brother, who has no interest in bonding over their shared biological mother. After seventeen years in the foster care system, he’s learned that there are no heroes, and secrets and fears are best kept close to the vest, where they can’t hurt anyone but him.
Don't miss this moving novel that addresses such important topics as adoption, teen pregnancy, and foster care.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Have your tissues ready, because Robin Benway’s National Book Award–winning YA novel is heartbreaking and uplifting in the best possible way. Far from the Tree is told from the alternating perspectives of three siblings who were separated as babies—and don’t meet until their teens, when one of them gets pregnant and puts her baby up for adoption. As we witness these three very different teenagers getting to know each other, we’re immersed in the complex emotions surrounding adoption and family. Benway’s book is compulsively readable, but it also deals thoughtfully with heavy issues like teen pregnancy, foster care, alcoholism, and race.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In an equally heartwarming and heart-wrenching story, three siblings separated in infancy find each other as teens. Grace, who has always known she was adopted, first learns of her brother, Joaquin, and sister, Maya, while unsuccessfully searching for her birth mother during a tumultuous junior year. Her open-minded adoptive parents support a reunion, and the siblings' initial meeting is a success. During subsequent visits, they discover the things they have in common, as well as some painful secrets. Joaquin's childhood has not been as happy as Grace's has been, and his deep-rooted fears are affecting his current relationships. Maya's home life has become chaotic due to fights and alcohol abuse, and Grace knows firsthand how difficult it is to put a baby up for adoption. Writing in a shifting third-person narrative that is both nonjudgmental and deeply empathetic, Benway (Emmy & Oliver) delves into the souls of these characters as they wrestle to overcome feelings of inadequacy, abandonment, and betrayal, gradually coming to understand themselves and each other. Ages 13 up.)
Customer Reviews
The easiest five stars
Wow.
What a beautifully written book. Shed a couple tears. A couple laughs.
Read this. You won’t be sorry.
Touching and heart warming
I have a personal connection to the characters, and because of that, this book made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me feel mad, and it made me feel so many different emotions. I love how the story’s told from 3 people point of view, and how each person is different in their own unique ways, from chewing on straws, to talking nonstop. If you haven’t read this book, then you have NO idea what your missing.
a wonderful story
i can’t stop crying