My Tree
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
When a young boy's beloved plum tree falls in a storm, he feels like he's lost both a friend and a connection to his old home.
A young boy, recently arrived from Korea, finds a glorious plum tree in his new backyard. It reminds him of a tree his family had back home, and he names it "Plumee" for the deep purple plums on its branches. Whenever the boy is homesick, he knows he can take shelter in Plumee's tall branches.
And when a storm brings the old tree down, he and his friends have all kinds of adventures on its branches, as it becomes a dragon, a treehouse, and a ship in their imaginations. But soon it's time to say goodbye when the remains of the tree are taken away. Before long, a new plum tree is planted, new blossoms bloom, and a new friendship takes root.
A South Korean immigrant herself, Hope Lim brings her perspective on the struggle for child immigrants to feel at home to bear through spare, poetic text, perfectly matched by soft, lyrical illustrations by Korean artist Il Sung Na.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
It's not a person or an animal who comforts Lim's (I Am a Bird) child narrator, who has newly arrived in the United States from Korea. It's a tree outside the new home's back door—one with a graceful trunk and strong branches that are full of plums—that "reminded me of the persimmon tree that shaded our porch in Korea." Named Plumee by the child, the tree offers something in every season: blossoms, shade, fruit, and beauty. And then a storm fells it. "An old tree knows how to lie down when it's time," the child's grandmother back in Korea says, a phrase that helps the child confront loss and gain comfort. Na (That's My Carrot) gives this quiet story heft and drama with bold, crisped-edged forms; saturated hues; and feathery details. The spreads flow into each other, carrying much of the story's emotional weight. Lim, meanwhile, crafts this story with a tree-scale sense of time, paying homage to an arboreal marker of the past and offering hope that stretches out into the future. Ages 4–8. Author's agent: Tanusri Prasanna, Foundry Literary + Media. Illustrator's agent: Lori Nowicki, Painted Words.
