Reviewed
by Kerry Gittins
How much does the Earth weigh? How are rainbows made?
Where do dreams come from? Why do I have a tail bone and not a tail? Will mum
ever stop crying? How do I put us back together? The right way, like we were
with you?
These are questions Carina Sugden needs answered
but the only person who can answer them isn’t there anymore. Carina’s dad
passed away and the family can’t seem to find their way through the sadness and
loss. Her mum decided when the doctors had said there was nothing more they
could for dad, that they all needed a ‘tree change,’ and so the small town of
Forrest was chosen. Even though the house they found was a ‘fixer-upper’, dad
had wanted an adventure in a place surrounded by trees and had wanted them all
to fix the house together.
But the town and their new home in the Otway
Ranges seemed to bring more hurt, more problems and even more sadness because
dad hadn’t come with them. Mum threw herself into fixing up the house on her
own, crying behind closed doors and shutting people out, Jack became more
distant and mean and didn’t want anything to do with his little sister anymore,
Gramps tried his best to keep the peace but was fighting a losing battle, and
Carina spent hours searching the forest near their new home for the one thing dad
had been certain was there and that she had promised her dad she would find for
him – a moon tree. Her dad had told her about the seeds taken into space on the
1971 Apollo mission and the trees planted with them on their return to Earth.
They were special, just like her dad, and she wasn’t going to let him down. But
finding one was proving much harder than she thought.
Finding a path through grief is never easy, but
the journey can eventually give rise to new friends, new beginnings, and the
opportunity to heal - which is exactly what Forrest gives the Sugden family.
This is a truly beautiful story that captures
the very essence and heartbreak of profound loss. Shivaun Plozza doesn’t shy
away from the reality of the friction and conflict that can occur at times like
this and approaches it with enormous gentleness and poignancy so that the
reader doesn’t feel confronted but is rather placed in the heart of this family
and gently brought along on their journey through grief to acceptance.
‘I don’t think memories are bad. I think
they’re like seeds – you plant them, nurture them and they grow up big and
strong and that way the people you love never really die.’
I totally agree with Carina’s character. What a
wonderful way to keep alive the memories of those we have lost. Let’s all plant
our own memory seeds from now on.
Teaching themes could include grief, families,
acceptance, loss, trees, science, magic, dendrology, scientific processes, and
friendship.
Highly recommended for ages
9+ years.
