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The Mailbox Tree
United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY) 2025 Outstanding International Books list
With sea-levels rising, and the land deforested, over-mined, and affected by bushfires and drought—Tasmania is increasingly marooned, its people abandoned.
Nyx's father wants them to leave while they still can, but for Nyx, West Hobart is all she's ever known and where her mother is buried. She seeks solace in the single surviving tree near her home—an 80-foot pine that has defied all odds. Bea, too, finds solace in the tree, and facing a move to the mainland herself, leaves a despairing note, wedged into a hole in its trunk. Nyx finds the note and writes back. But Nyx and Bea don't realize how special their tree truly is . . .
With sea-levels rising, and the land deforested, over-mined, and affected by bushfires and drought—Tasmania is increasingly marooned, its people abandoned.
Nyx's father wants them to leave while they still can, but for Nyx, West Hobart is all she's ever known and where her mother is buried. She seeks solace in the single surviving tree near her home—an 80-foot pine that has defied all odds. Bea, too, finds solace in the tree, and facing a move to the mainland herself, leaves a despairing note, wedged into a hole in its trunk. Nyx finds the note and writes back. But Nyx and Bea don't realize how special their tree truly is . . .
240 pages, Hardcover
Published August 6, 2024
1 person is currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca Lim
37 books732 followersRebecca Lim is an Australian writer, illustrator and editor and the author of over twenty books, including Tiger Daughter (a Kirkus, Amazon and Booklist Best Book, CBCA Book of the Year: Older Readers and Victorian Premier’s Literary Award-winner), Two Sparrowhawks in a Lonely Sky (NSW History Award-winner and Book Links Children’s Historical Fiction Award-winner) and the bestselling Mercy. Her work has been twice shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award, shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards, ARA Historical Novel Prize and Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards, shortlisted multiple times for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, Aurealis Awards and Davitt Awards, and longlisted for the Gold Inky Award and the David Gemmell Legend Award. Her novels have been translated into German, French, Turkish, Portuguese, Polish, Vietnamese and Russian. She is a co-founder of the Voices from the Intersection initiative and co-editor of Meet Me at the Intersection, a groundbreaking anthology of YA #OwnVoice memoir, poetry and fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 4, 2024
This story scared me and moved me. The plausibility of a desolate future is increasing as we continue to abuse the environment and climate. Bea and Nyx both go to incredible lengths to try to save humanity and nature. It was well written and left me thinking about what I can do to reduce my own carbon footprint.
December 12, 2024
Two kids in Tasmania separated by time share both a fear of climate disaster and a friendly tree which lets them pass messages back and forth in a knothole. They provide friendship and support to each other, which becomes vital as the environmental damage in future girl’s world reaches apocalyptic levels.
I was disconcerted by their immediate friendship which seemed unearned, and confused by the way their messages sometimes changed the world and sometimes didn’t and how their time lines were linked fairly rigorously in odd ways. The message about climate disaster and working as a community seemed to overwhelm the story parts at times.
But it was readable and pleasantly exotic to American me. Even modern day Tasmania is very far away, let alone Tasmania in the future.
I was disconcerted by their immediate friendship which seemed unearned, and confused by the way their messages sometimes changed the world and sometimes didn’t and how their time lines were linked fairly rigorously in odd ways. The message about climate disaster and working as a community seemed to overwhelm the story parts at times.
But it was readable and pleasantly exotic to American me. Even modern day Tasmania is very far away, let alone Tasmania in the future.
September 25, 2024
The Mailbox Tree is a heartwarming, heartbreaking, spectacular, beautiful, and important read! Recommended for ages eight to thirteen, this book is a winner! I adore the call to environmental activism, grief & loss, beautiful friendship, and emphasis on the power of community. This book highlights the friendship of Nyx and Bea two girls who find solace in the single surviving tree of Tasmania. Through accidentally leaving notes for each other to find they strike up a pen pal type friendship. As their friendship grows and their love for the tree grows amazing things begin to happen.
September 15, 2024
One of the best books I have ever read. Two girls form a friendship by leaving notes in a tree. One is living in 2023 and the other in 2093. Both live in Tasmania. Climate change has ruined Nyx’s life in 2093 but Bea in 2023 vows to help save her.
August 24, 2024
What worked:
The story is set in future Tasmania as two young girls are distressed about their parents deciding their families must move away. Dust, heat, and dryness make up Nyx’s world but her father says a devastating flood is imminent. It makes no sense to her and she’s devastated about being forced to leave her home, where her mother is buried. Bea is also upset about moving even though she’s bullied at school. Nyx and Bea both find a peaceful place to think by climbing into the upper branches of the same pine tree although they’ve never met. Nyx writes an angry note about her father and leaves it in a knob of the tree and this leads to message swapping between the two girls. The book is written with alternating chapters sharing the thoughts, feelings, and anguish of Nyx and Bea.
Readers will soon realize something is off with the setting. Nyx describes how there’s no fresh food where she lives and people eat cryo, if they’re rich, or rehydro, if they’re not. On the other hand, Bea’s father is cooking ratatouille made from peas, sweet potatoes, or kale and the family raises bees for honey. Bea binge-watches “Lord of the Rings” movies every month. The lives of the two girls are starkly different so it’s hard to imagine they live in the same neighborhood. It’s not until one of Nyx’s notes mentions a bridge accident that readers, and Bea, will realize something strange is going on. The Mailbox Tree allows the girls to communicate across decades in time.
Both girls are feeling lonely and depressed and their relationship gives them a bit of optimism and happiness. Bea has been bullied for years and she can’t understand why she’s targeted. Everyone has different interests but Bea feels like she’s weird and no one will like her as a friend. Nyx also feels like she’s on her own because her mother has died and her father has a long-distance girlfriend. She’s sure her father wants to move because of the new woman, not because of impending flood waters. The story doesn’t mention any other kids in Nyx’s life and her father barely seems to notice when she’s around. Both girls are desperate for something positive in their lives so the magic of the Mailbox Tree seems like their salvation. Tasmania is nearing a disastrous apocalypse and Bea may be the only hope.
The final verdict:
This passionate, thoughtful story will touch readers’ heartstrings. Conservation of the environment is a major problem that should cause many people to reconsider how current decisions will impact the future. Overall, I highly recommend you give this poignant book a shot.
The story is set in future Tasmania as two young girls are distressed about their parents deciding their families must move away. Dust, heat, and dryness make up Nyx’s world but her father says a devastating flood is imminent. It makes no sense to her and she’s devastated about being forced to leave her home, where her mother is buried. Bea is also upset about moving even though she’s bullied at school. Nyx and Bea both find a peaceful place to think by climbing into the upper branches of the same pine tree although they’ve never met. Nyx writes an angry note about her father and leaves it in a knob of the tree and this leads to message swapping between the two girls. The book is written with alternating chapters sharing the thoughts, feelings, and anguish of Nyx and Bea.
Readers will soon realize something is off with the setting. Nyx describes how there’s no fresh food where she lives and people eat cryo, if they’re rich, or rehydro, if they’re not. On the other hand, Bea’s father is cooking ratatouille made from peas, sweet potatoes, or kale and the family raises bees for honey. Bea binge-watches “Lord of the Rings” movies every month. The lives of the two girls are starkly different so it’s hard to imagine they live in the same neighborhood. It’s not until one of Nyx’s notes mentions a bridge accident that readers, and Bea, will realize something strange is going on. The Mailbox Tree allows the girls to communicate across decades in time.
Both girls are feeling lonely and depressed and their relationship gives them a bit of optimism and happiness. Bea has been bullied for years and she can’t understand why she’s targeted. Everyone has different interests but Bea feels like she’s weird and no one will like her as a friend. Nyx also feels like she’s on her own because her mother has died and her father has a long-distance girlfriend. She’s sure her father wants to move because of the new woman, not because of impending flood waters. The story doesn’t mention any other kids in Nyx’s life and her father barely seems to notice when she’s around. Both girls are desperate for something positive in their lives so the magic of the Mailbox Tree seems like their salvation. Tasmania is nearing a disastrous apocalypse and Bea may be the only hope.
The final verdict:
This passionate, thoughtful story will touch readers’ heartstrings. Conservation of the environment is a major problem that should cause many people to reconsider how current decisions will impact the future. Overall, I highly recommend you give this poignant book a shot.
September 24, 2024
This futuristic novel might appeal to teen or middle grade readers who think they don't like science fiction. As other reviewers have said, reading it really is downright scary since the events described in it due to climate change or global warming and the poor stewardship of humans seem increasingly likely. Don't be fooled by the book's title. The story is nothing like what most folks will have read before. Tasmania, where the story is set, is in bad shape. The narration shifts between two girls who have never met but have quite a lot in common. Both are about to be displaced, one due to impending ecological disaster and the other one due to bullying and the need to start fresh. Readers won't realize at first that the girls are separated by decades: It's 2093 in Nyx's story, and 2023 in Bea's vows, When Nyx pours out her anguish about the future on a scrap of paper that she hides in a tall pine tree near her home, her words are read by Bea, who responds through a notebook. Improbably, a friendship forms between the two girls, and Bea is determined to somehow help Nyx even though she knows that others will doubt her and make fun of her. For such a short book, this one packs quite an emotional wallop and will make many readers think how close this sort of a future may be. I liked it much more than I expected to.
December 30, 2024
The Mailbox Tree was a heartwarming and hopeful story even as it didn’t shy away from the devastation and horror of a climate disaster. It discussed environmentalism and what we owe the people who will inherit the planet in later generations through the friendship between two girls: Bea, who lives in the present, and Nyx, who lives in a future made bleak and dangerous by the compounding effects of climate change.
Their friendship was quite sweet. They're both isolated and lonely and find a kindred soul in the other, somebody they can be open with. It did well to support the message that we need to have empathy and provide support for the people who will come after us and that even small acts to better our communities' futures are worth doing.
The time travel element, while it fit the themes of the book, was a bit convoluted as a plot element at times. Odd to me was how the first major change to the timeline seemed unconnected to either girl. For the most part, it seems Nyx and Bea are inextricably linked so something Bea does because of their link can skip the in-between years to suddenly change the ‘now’ of Nyx’s timeline. Except that first big change that starts to show how this link really works was from some random stranger with no indication why it was a change from how the ‘past’ from Nyx’s perspective should have been.
Their friendship was quite sweet. They're both isolated and lonely and find a kindred soul in the other, somebody they can be open with. It did well to support the message that we need to have empathy and provide support for the people who will come after us and that even small acts to better our communities' futures are worth doing.
The time travel element, while it fit the themes of the book, was a bit convoluted as a plot element at times. Odd to me was how the first major change to the timeline seemed unconnected to either girl. For the most part, it seems Nyx and Bea are inextricably linked so something Bea does because of their link can skip the in-between years to suddenly change the ‘now’ of Nyx’s timeline. Except that first big change that starts to show how this link really works was from some random stranger with no indication why it was a change from how the ‘past’ from Nyx’s perspective should have been.
January 31, 2025
This is a fast paced, fascinating Sci Fi story written by 2 authors writing 2 girls who live in Tanzania separated by time (the present and 70 years in the future) who communicate with each other through leaving notes in a surviving tree. You have to suspend your disbelief but this is maybe the best eco-fiction I have read to date for kids! It is powerfully effective at encouraging you to think ahead to kids in the future and what they need most from us. AND it would be a terrific movie! Someone should definitely option this one. Bravo!
July 10, 2025
How cool to have a small hole in a tree allow two girls from different times a chance to "meet" each other! I really enjoyed this short novel about the dangers of ignoring climate change and how even small changes can make a big difference.
Grades 5-8
Grades 5-8
September 14, 2024
Loved this book about connecting with our future and working to save our Earth. Great for battle book or book discussion
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews