The Godmother Tree

Laura Cate, the daughter of a migrant farm worker, struggles to find a place that she can call home as her family moves from farm to farm, never staying in one place for any length of time.

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.