LoveReading4Kids Says
LoveReading4Kids Says
June 2018 Book of the Month |
Mal Peet, who died in 2015, wrote with extraordinary sensitivity and insight and this novella, freshly published by Barrington Stoke, is testimony to his talent. Benjamin finds himself by accident outside his old home and revisits memories of the garden and treehouse that 20 years ago were such a key part of his childhood. His father built the treehouse for him but it quickly changed from being a place of shared stories to something less happy – a hideaway from his mother, a hiding place for his father as he turned away from the outside world. The story is a painful one, years on Ben is still torn by conflicting loyalties, still angry with his father, still guilty for abandoning him. His return brings some new perspectives, but no happy resolution. Emma Shoard’s new illustrations equal the text for rawness, depth and resonance.
Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant or dyslexic readers aged 14+
Andrea Reece
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About
The Family Tree Synopsis
When a man returns to his childhood home and visits the derelict tree house in which his father once chose to live, he recalls the past unravelling of his family, the unspoken strangeness of their lives, and the impact on his own adult life. Beautiful, sparse and insightful storytelling.
Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant or dyslexic readers aged 14+
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781781128053 |
| Publication date: |
15th May 2018 |
| Author: |
Mal Peet |
| Illustrator: |
Emma Shoard |
| Publisher: |
Barrington Stoke Ltd |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
72 pages |
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Press Reviews
Mal Peet Press Reviews
"I love this wonderful book. How does Mal Peet do so much in such a short space? It's engrossing, haunting, beautifully written." - David Almond
"For some time now, Mal Peet has been the most elegant prose stylist in the world of young-adult fiction...one of the best novelists, full stop" - Anthony McGowan
“A timely reminder of what a magician Mal Peet was. How you cast such a powerful, intoxicating spell with so few words is beyond me” Phil Earle
“For thoughtful, intelligent young readers, no writer of this century writes better than Mal Peet” Meg Rosoff
“I commissioned The Family Tree for an anthology I was editing for Walker Books, and I knew as soon as Mal sent it to me that it was a great story – full of the warmth and insight into people that was so characteristic of Mal as a writer and a human being. I’m really pleased to see that it’s being issued as a book in its own right by that most excellent publisher Barrington Stoke – and I’m very moved that Mal dedicated the book to me and to Gill Evans, the editor I was working with at Walker Books. Mal is very much missed – but at least we still have his stories to read” Tony Bradman
“A story of such challenging emotional complexity, yet told so simply, so gently. No wonder Mal Peet is a story-teller we miss so much” Keith Gray
Author
About Mal Peet
Mal Peet (June 1947 – 2 March 2015), winner of the Nestle Bronze Medal Award and the Branford Boase Award grew up in North Norfolk, and studied English and American Studies at the University of Warwick. Later he moved to south-west England and worked at a variety of jobs before turning full-time to writing and illustrating in the early 1990s. With his wife, Elspeth Graham, he wrote and illustrated many educational picture books for young children, and his cartoons appeared in a number of magazines. He and Elspeth lived in Exmouth, Devon.
Tamar won the Carnegie Medal and is a multi-layered tale of love and betrayal. He wrote three other linked novels, Keeper, The Penalty and Exposure, all featuring the football obsessed Paul Faustino, a sports journalist in South America who is reluctantly drawn into murders and mysteries.
Exposure won the 2009 Guardian Award for Children’s Fiction. On his award win, Mal said, “I’m totally thrilled to win the Guardian prize. I’ve been buying the newspaper for 35 years, so I’ve worked for it! In fact, if you subtract the prize money from what I’ve spent at the newsagents, the Guardian is way ahead on the deal! I don’t mind – the Guardian prize is very special. It’s judged by other writers so it’s pretty likely that if you win it, you deserve it.”
He also wrote a critically acclaimed adult novel, The Murdstone Trilogy
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