“It was simple for me, the saints were in heaven and guardian angels had extendable wings like Batman and my dad had died and gone to live in...
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reviews
Jan 09, 2010
Cynthia
rated it: 
A beautiful and comforting story.
As I was cleaning out my messy study, I found some notes I'd written about this book, in connection with an essay on modern fiction and mourning, written for the Ames Tribune.
Simone loses her dad at age 10. The book begins: "It was simple for me; the saints were in heaven and guardian angels had extendable wings like Batman and my dad had died and gone to live in a tree in the backyard."
One of my favorite things about More...
As I was cleaning out my messy study, I found some notes I'd written about this book, in connection with an essay on modern fiction and mourning, written for the Ames Tribune.
Simone loses her dad at age 10. The book begins: "It was simple for me; the saints were in heaven and guardian angels had extendable wings like Batman and my dad had died and gone to live in a tree in the backyard."
One of my favorite things about More...
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Aug 09, 2011
this book was on the recommended reading shelf in the fiction section of the eugene library. everything else looked shitty and the first line of the book really sold me. i really like simple books. i usually hate long-winded descriptions of shit that's useless but this book needed all those descriptions and she did it well. the premise is that a young girls father dies and goes to live in the tree in their backyard. the girl tells her mother and her mother hears his voice up there and so th
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Oct 21, 2011
Lauren
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Following her father’s death, ten-year-old Simone discovers he now lives in the tree in her family’s backyard. So begins a tale of grief and learning how to cope and move on after tragedy. The book starts off strong, but rather than let the story unfold naturally, Ms. Pascoe shows all her cards within the first few pages, giving what should be a simple but deep story an emotional flatness that undermines the serious subject matter. I discovered this Australian import by accident at the library a
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Jan 25, 2012
Liz
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This is quite a quaint little book that Mark gave me last year and I had not read until now. It is the story of a family struggling to come to terms with the death of their husband and father. The 10yr old hears her father calling to her in the big poinciana tree beside their house and 'discovers'that she can sit up and talk to him. She shares this'gift'with her grief stricken mother believing it to be a comfort only to discover that it torments her mother further. I am always drawn to books on
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Jan 08, 2011
Deb
rated it:
A lovely story about a young family learning how to cope with the loss of their father. It's told from the point of view of the little girl who hears her dead father's voice coming from the large poinciana tree in their garden. Her mother climbs the tree with her and the conversations start...
As they talk to him, the tree grows and becomes destructive. The roots grow under the house and destabilise the foundations, as the father hangs on to his family and they refuse to let him g More...
As they talk to him, the tree grows and becomes destructive. The roots grow under the house and destabilise the foundations, as the father hangs on to his family and they refuse to let him g More...
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Apr 08, 2009
Louise
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This wasn't quite as good as I'd expected it to be from all the hype I'd heard about it. A young girl, Simone, loses her father and watches her mother and brothers deal with the grief. Simone believes her dead father's spirit lives in a tree in their backyard.
From dust jacket:
"...Simone observes with candor and fresh insight the ways in which her mother, brothers, neighbours, and community deal with the death of her father. While her mother stares blankly into space, More...
From dust jacket:
"...Simone observes with candor and fresh insight the ways in which her mother, brothers, neighbours, and community deal with the death of her father. While her mother stares blankly into space, More...
Jul 01, 2011
Brenda
rated it:
This tale is set in the heat of a Queensland summer.
Simone 10yo, and her brothers Edward, James and Gerard, lose their dad to heart disease when he's in his 40's. Everyone in the family is consumed by grief and Simone's only comfort is climbing the huge Poinciana tree in their backyard. She climbed right to the top, higher than she'd ever climbed before, and was amazed at what seemed like another world right up the top. Her suspicions are confirmed when she heard her father's voice i More...
Simone 10yo, and her brothers Edward, James and Gerard, lose their dad to heart disease when he's in his 40's. Everyone in the family is consumed by grief and Simone's only comfort is climbing the huge Poinciana tree in their backyard. She climbed right to the top, higher than she'd ever climbed before, and was amazed at what seemed like another world right up the top. Her suspicions are confirmed when she heard her father's voice i More...
Jul 18, 2007
Sherrie
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Simone, a 10-year-old Australian girl, loses her father to heart disease. Everyone in her family is consumed by grief and her only solace is climbing the huge Poinciana tree in their backyard because she has thought, "If you climbed high enough in the tree in our backyard you came to another world". Her suspicions are confirmed when she hears her father's voice in the highest branches. Simone tells her mother of this discovery and persuades her to climb the tree, where she too spend
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May 21, 2009
Brobdignanian
rated it: 
I'm not going to lie, I probably wouldn't have read this book if not for the catchy title and tasteful cover. Seeing things through the eyes of an innocent child has opened up my eyes to a lot of things and gave me a new perspective on my own mother. This short book was the perfect accessory for a quiet afternoon at the park~!
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Aug 01, 2011
I highly recommend this book. It's a wonderfully simple tale of a family who comes to terms with the grief of losing their father - beautifully told.
Sep 10, 2008
Anney
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This is a surrealist story about exactly what the title says. The young narrator's father dies and instead of going to heaven, he resides in this tree in the backyard. At times, I felt the author took the surrealism a bit too far. But it didn't mar my enjoyment of the story. I definitely rushed through my students' papers so I could get back to this!
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Dec 12, 2007
Melissa
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I was drawn to this book by its gorgeous cover, but alas, the story did not live up for me. What was meant to be dreamlike and mystical came off scattered to me, and the ending really trailed off after the climactic storm. For such a short book, it felt like a very long read.
Jun 12, 2008
Jamie
rated it:
Young girl's father dies, but when she climbs to the highest branch of the back yard tree, she can still talk to her dad.
Jan 08, 2011
L.r.
rated it:
A lovely book - well-written, moving and funny, with beautifully drawn characters.
Jan 04, 2008
Laurene
rated it:
This beautifully written prose comforted me while moving through my own grief.
Feb 10, 2012
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