The mulberry tree by Allison Rushby
Walker Books, 2018. ISBN 9781760650202
(Age: 10+) Highly recommended. Themes: Supernatural, Friendship,
Depression (mental health). When Immy (short for Imogen) and her
family, dad, a doctor on sabbatical and mum a cardiologist working
for a year at Cambridge, look for a place to live, they have fixed
ideas. Wanting a thatched cottage within commuting distance of
Cambridge and a garden proves hard to find, but driving past a place
called Lavender Cottage, Immy calls the reluctant estate agent to
stop, as the place seems to have all the right characteristics. Once
inside, the garden with its huge old mulberry tree seems to call
her, but when she arrives at school the Monday after they move in,
she learns the stories of the place, that girls turning eleven are
taken by the tree. As it is her eleventh birthday next month she is
a little concerned, but the bullying by the trio of girls is put
aside as she and another school newbie, Riley investigate the
stories about the tree.
With her father's depression resulting from his perceived part in
the death of two people back in Australia, Immy finds it hard to
maintain patience with his illness. Her anger boils, and she
realises that the tree too has issues and is angry, and she must
find out why. Her eleventh birthday looms, with the family inviting
friends along for a party in the garden. Many refuse the invitation,
shocked at the family's refusal to believe the legend of the tree,
but as Saturday looms, the readers' interest deepens.
I loved Rushby's "The turnkey" (2017) with its overlay of the
supernatural seeming as natural as any life lived in a cemetery can
be, and this book too with its nuance of being able to communicate
with the tree and the disappearance of two girls, will hook readers
into its world. Classroom
ideas are available.
Fran Knight