This Very Tree

By Sean Rubin

This very special book comes to us from the tree’s perspective. It’s a Callery Pear tree that is planted in the World Trade Center’s Plaza. It was there on September 11, 2001, too, and it was damaged but survived.

This Very Tree gives us a way to open up a conversation about what happened with children. The author grew up in New York City and noted that the Twin Towers were always part of his daily existence. They were also part of the tree’s existence.

He showed how resilient the little tree was – like New Yorkers and the people of our country have been. The ‘survivor tree’, as it’s known, is a nice, comforting way to show children the strength we have, whether as people or as other living things, and what resilience means and looks like.

This was a Maine Chickadee book this year, meaning it (along with nine other picture books) was selected by a group of librarians from around the state of Maine. The Chickadee Award is Maine’s student choice picture book award.

All students in grades K-4 in Maine can vote for their favorite book out of the 10 nominees, which have been read aloud to them in the past few months. You can also find the Chickadee Award books at your local library.