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Family Tree
It started with a seed, and that seed was me. And, over time, laughter filled my garden ... A heartfelt celebration of family, community and the seasons of life, to cherish and to share. The official story chosen for ALIA National Simultaneous Storytime 2022, to be celebrated all across Australia and New Zealand!
- GenresPicture BooksChildrens
32 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 23, 2025
i love a woke children’s book
July 19, 2023
With Season 13 of the documentary reality genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? recently starting on SBS, it’s time to revisit Family Tree, the book selected for this year’s National Simultaneous Storytime.
Each year in May, a picture book created by Australian artists is chosen by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) to be read simultaneously in libraries, schools, homes and children’s facilities all over the country and beyond.
The event promotes the value and fun of books in communities. This year, there were 2,18,347 registered participants from 59,038 locations in Australia and overseas
Family Tree was written by Josh Pyke, illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh, and published by Scholastic Australia. The first-person narrator is a gum tree. As it grew, so did the notion of a family:
“It started with a seed, and that seed was me… Seasons came and went, feast and famine, drought and storms. Laughter, tears, silence, song. Our roots dug deeper. Our roots grew strong.”
A family is much more than a gathering of people. As the “red bricks were laid…the walls climbed to meet a red roof with a chimney on top”, a house became a home when it was filled with laughter and “little hands reaching higher and higher”.
Then, one day, the family tree was outgrown: “My own seeds, too, caught the wind to fly from my boughs, and dance upon the air, to settle in lands I wouldn’t see and couldn’t know. Forever away. Forever my own.”
As families continued to expand, next generations were born, new relationships formed and fresh connections made. Thus communities were established.
In turn, each family became stronger: “I reached my branches toward the sun so that they could climb higher. Ever higher. And they did. They climbed all the way to the sky.”
That’s the beauty of the full circle of life, with new seeds being generated and growing to become new family trees spreading love and joy throughout communities. Each generation leaves its mark on a family in the same way that little hands make carvings on a tree.
In an interview, Ghosh explained how he saw the words of Pyke’s story in his mind’s eye: “I have a very big eucalyptus tree growing in front of my house, and it drops really big branches on my roof and I get very scared at night, but I love that tree also.”
That tree is part of Ghosh’s lived experiences. While his family is originally from India, he has lived in Indonesia, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. That multicultural background is vividly reflected in his illustrations.
In Ghosh’s words: “When my son was born, my wife and I wanted to give him a place to call home. We wanted to give him roots so he can come back home. So the book was very reflective of my own life, my own family tree – it really resonated with me.”
Family Tree is definitely a book where we can see ourselves and our families.
Note: This book review was originally published under the title “Celebrating family and community” by Ranges Trader Star Mail, July 5, 2022, P.24.
Each year in May, a picture book created by Australian artists is chosen by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) to be read simultaneously in libraries, schools, homes and children’s facilities all over the country and beyond.
The event promotes the value and fun of books in communities. This year, there were 2,18,347 registered participants from 59,038 locations in Australia and overseas
Family Tree was written by Josh Pyke, illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh, and published by Scholastic Australia. The first-person narrator is a gum tree. As it grew, so did the notion of a family:
“It started with a seed, and that seed was me… Seasons came and went, feast and famine, drought and storms. Laughter, tears, silence, song. Our roots dug deeper. Our roots grew strong.”
A family is much more than a gathering of people. As the “red bricks were laid…the walls climbed to meet a red roof with a chimney on top”, a house became a home when it was filled with laughter and “little hands reaching higher and higher”.
Then, one day, the family tree was outgrown: “My own seeds, too, caught the wind to fly from my boughs, and dance upon the air, to settle in lands I wouldn’t see and couldn’t know. Forever away. Forever my own.”
As families continued to expand, next generations were born, new relationships formed and fresh connections made. Thus communities were established.
In turn, each family became stronger: “I reached my branches toward the sun so that they could climb higher. Ever higher. And they did. They climbed all the way to the sky.”
That’s the beauty of the full circle of life, with new seeds being generated and growing to become new family trees spreading love and joy throughout communities. Each generation leaves its mark on a family in the same way that little hands make carvings on a tree.
In an interview, Ghosh explained how he saw the words of Pyke’s story in his mind’s eye: “I have a very big eucalyptus tree growing in front of my house, and it drops really big branches on my roof and I get very scared at night, but I love that tree also.”
That tree is part of Ghosh’s lived experiences. While his family is originally from India, he has lived in Indonesia, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. That multicultural background is vividly reflected in his illustrations.
In Ghosh’s words: “When my son was born, my wife and I wanted to give him a place to call home. We wanted to give him roots so he can come back home. So the book was very reflective of my own life, my own family tree – it really resonated with me.”
Family Tree is definitely a book where we can see ourselves and our families.
Note: This book review was originally published under the title “Celebrating family and community” by Ranges Trader Star Mail, July 5, 2022, P.24.
May 16, 2022
What a terrible, terrible book.
I only picked it up because it was nominated for this year's (2022) ALIA National Simultaneous Storytime event. But it is just terrible. I am not sure what age it is set for, but it would be unfit for preschool through to at least year 3. It is boring, very abstract, disjointed and very basic in writing skill. It is going to go way over the heads of any young child unfortunate enough to have to sit through a boring reading of this. I am not even sure any explaining to a child is going to help them understand the analogy of life this book is purporting to deliver.
Is there really such a dearth of writing talent in Australia that this was the best they could do this year? Or was it a matter of people who know people who can pull strings because this person is likeable in some circles and wouldn't it be nice for him to have his book accepted this year for his hard work and likeability although the book is terrible?
I only gave it 2 stars at the very most because I will save 1 stars for books that somehow fare far worse.
I only picked it up because it was nominated for this year's (2022) ALIA National Simultaneous Storytime event. But it is just terrible. I am not sure what age it is set for, but it would be unfit for preschool through to at least year 3. It is boring, very abstract, disjointed and very basic in writing skill. It is going to go way over the heads of any young child unfortunate enough to have to sit through a boring reading of this. I am not even sure any explaining to a child is going to help them understand the analogy of life this book is purporting to deliver.
Is there really such a dearth of writing talent in Australia that this was the best they could do this year? Or was it a matter of people who know people who can pull strings because this person is likeable in some circles and wouldn't it be nice for him to have his book accepted this year for his hard work and likeability although the book is terrible?
I only gave it 2 stars at the very most because I will save 1 stars for books that somehow fare far worse.
March 30, 2024
A beautiful book about how families change over time. The illustrations are lovely, and the story always brings tears to our eyes with how one action can make a huge difference. It's one of our favourites!
May 16, 2022
Hated it and my kids hated it. Boring.
December 10, 2022
A bottlebrush tells their story of growing, of moving away, of coming home. A story of family and community.
January 4, 2024
Beautifully uplifting- a story about connection ❤️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews