The Godmother Tree

When ten-year-old Laura moves with her family to yet another new farm, Laura slowly begins to build connections to the place, to her family, and to herself.

Grade 4-7-- Laura's father's new job means yet another move for the family, but this time the change is a financial step up for the Cates family. For the first time, they will live in a real house, albeit one sorely in need of cleaning. Laura enjoys helping with farm chores as does her oldest brother Luther, but 14-year-old Ryan resents the change. Not long after the family settles into the daily routine, mysterious things begin to happen. When buttons disappear off the newly laundered clothes and Mama's garden is tampered with, Laura's mother voices her concern about her children's safety. Laura has her own theory, which results in her realization that Ryan has serious problems. The title comes from an old tree on a distant patch of the farm hugging the shore of Lake Champlain, a tree so welcoming that Laura names it her godmother tree. This is an honest, believable story about love. True to life, there are disagreements and bickering, but this is a family whose strength is based on caring. There are subplots about relatives and cows neatly fitted within the main plot, which flows along, bumps and all, in the unhurried pace of a country summer. Laura's mother, while unsure in this new setting, never fails to have each child's well-being in mind. Laura herself is an admirable heroine, sensitive yet sensible. Her summer is full of surprises, but she keeps everything in perspective, perhaps as a result of the a godmother tree or her make-believe friend, Riley--but more likely thanks to good parenting. --Phyllis G. Sidorsky, National Cathedral School, Washington, DC
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Like Katherine Paterson's The Smallest Cow in the World (1991), a book that depicted a Vermont farm family and was first published by the Vermont Migrant Education Program. Here, Laura, 10, and her family may not be typical migrants--a nearby uncle is a successful businessman, and her great-aunt, a physician, lives in South America--but their experience of moving from farm to farm, the parents overworked and underpaid and the kids feeling unwelcome in each new school, is painfully familiar. Their new place is a large but rundown house that Mom tackles with vigor; meanwhile, hardworking Dad, who loves farming, depends on the three children for help. Still, this owner is essentially fair and Dad's job is unusually secure. Meanwhile, a mysterious outbreak of vandalism is traced to middle child Ryan, disturbed by the latest move; gentle brother Luther, 16, is deeply depressed after accidentally killing a pair of fawns, but is comforted with Laura's help and his own artistic gift; and Laura finds sanctuary in a beautiful old tree where she goes to read. Things may work out a little too easily--Ryan's troubles are swiftly identified and effectively addressed, while everyone wins prizes at the county fair--but the setting is beautifully realized, the family interestingly idiosyncratic, warm, and believable, the social problems realistically portrayed. A likable story with real insights. (Fiction. 8-12) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.