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The Family Tree
A family tree assignment leads an adopted girl to discover the different ways to be a family.
When her teacher gives her class a simple family tree assignment, Ada is stumped. How can she make her family fit into this simple template?
Ada is adopted. She can see where to put her parents on the tree, but what about her birth mom? Ada has a biological sister, but her sister has different adoptive parents — where do they go on the tree?
But with the help of her friends and family, Ada figures it out. She creates her family tree . . . and so much more.
Loosely based on the author's own experience, this moving story explores the different ways families are created and how the modern family is more diverse and welcoming than ever before.
When her teacher gives her class a simple family tree assignment, Ada is stumped. How can she make her family fit into this simple template?
Ada is adopted. She can see where to put her parents on the tree, but what about her birth mom? Ada has a biological sister, but her sister has different adoptive parents — where do they go on the tree?
But with the help of her friends and family, Ada figures it out. She creates her family tree . . . and so much more.
Loosely based on the author's own experience, this moving story explores the different ways families are created and how the modern family is more diverse and welcoming than ever before.
48 pages, Hardcover
First published April 12, 2022
1 person is currently reading
45 people want to read
About the author
Sean Dixon
14 books28 followersSEAN DIXON is the author, most recently, of The Abduction of Seven Forgers (plus one falsely accused), which was recently described by Quill and Quire as a "hilarious yarn with a meditation on the meaning(s) of art and life" and a "genuinely excellent read."
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
February 12, 2022
In Lianne Moriarty’s “Big Little Lies”, there is a scene where a little boy is asked to make a family tree for his first grade school assignment. However, he struggles with it as he doesn’t know who his dad is. That was the first time I wondered how schools can insist on traditional family trees in a world where the very meaning of “family” has undergone such a drastic change from its old-fashioned definition of Dad+Mom+kids.
When I saw this picture book and saw that it tackled a similar idea, I knew I had to read it. And to a great extent, it does justice to its intent.
The concept begins the same way. Ada has been given a paper with a tree drawn on it and she is supposed to draw her family at the appropriate places. However, Ada’s family history isn’t just a simple tree. Through her talks with her parents and their extended family and friends, Ada finds families created through IVF, adoption, surrogacy and even fostering. There are also same-sex parents and divorced parents. How she weaves them all in her tree is what you need to discover through the book.
The topic is difficult, and hence some parts of the book will need more discussion or explanation. I loved it for the idea it tries to put forward – we need to look beyond traditional family units. But there are certain ideas in it that might be either complicated or painful for kids to accept, such as a birth mother who gave her children for adoption.
The illustrations are very good and reminded me of my childhood Russian story books. More importantly, they are inclusive.
The book will work very well as a school resource. Before teachers give out family tree projects, they can use this lovely story to help children understand how every kind of family is still a complete family. It would also work well for children in any non-traditional family setup. Or maybe even for children in traditional family setups. After all, they too need to learn that theirs is not the only kind of family possible. This might help foster better understanding with their friends.
4 stars.
My thanks to Penguin Random House Canada, Tundra Books, and NetGalley for the ARC of “The Family Tree”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
***********************
Join me on the Facebook group, Readers Forever! , for more reviews, book-related discussions and fun.
When I saw this picture book and saw that it tackled a similar idea, I knew I had to read it. And to a great extent, it does justice to its intent.
The concept begins the same way. Ada has been given a paper with a tree drawn on it and she is supposed to draw her family at the appropriate places. However, Ada’s family history isn’t just a simple tree. Through her talks with her parents and their extended family and friends, Ada finds families created through IVF, adoption, surrogacy and even fostering. There are also same-sex parents and divorced parents. How she weaves them all in her tree is what you need to discover through the book.
The topic is difficult, and hence some parts of the book will need more discussion or explanation. I loved it for the idea it tries to put forward – we need to look beyond traditional family units. But there are certain ideas in it that might be either complicated or painful for kids to accept, such as a birth mother who gave her children for adoption.
The illustrations are very good and reminded me of my childhood Russian story books. More importantly, they are inclusive.
The book will work very well as a school resource. Before teachers give out family tree projects, they can use this lovely story to help children understand how every kind of family is still a complete family. It would also work well for children in any non-traditional family setup. Or maybe even for children in traditional family setups. After all, they too need to learn that theirs is not the only kind of family possible. This might help foster better understanding with their friends.
4 stars.
My thanks to Penguin Random House Canada, Tundra Books, and NetGalley for the ARC of “The Family Tree”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
***********************
Join me on the Facebook group, Readers Forever! , for more reviews, book-related discussions and fun.
January 7, 2022
Such a cute story about family. I thought it would be about educating kids about family tree but as it turns out I am quite wrong!
The concept of this storybook is quite unique and beautiful. You have to read it yourself and to the kids. You will be amazed.
I love the illustrations so much!
Thank you, Penguin Random House Canada, for the advance reading copy.
The concept of this storybook is quite unique and beautiful. You have to read it yourself and to the kids. You will be amazed.
I love the illustrations so much!
Thank you, Penguin Random House Canada, for the advance reading copy.
January 5, 2022
It is the story of a child who was adopted through foster care, who doesn’t know how to fill in the tree that her teacher wants her to do for homework.
Because she was adopted. And because she was in foster care with parents she is still in touch with, and because she has a sister who lives elsewhere, and because all the other things that do not make for a “traditional” family, she realizes that she can not do a traditional family tree, and so doesn’t. She creates a whole landscape, as she puts people who took care of her, and became her parents, and became her family are included into the drawing.
Wonderful book, because it tries to cover all the other ways we can have a family, and be a family. There is a child conceived through IVF, and children with divorced parents, and foster parents, and the children that she met in foster care that became family.
Hopefully this will open up teachers’ eyes, as well as those of kids, that family can be anything. And because representation matters, there are kids that will find themselves in this book.
Highly recommended.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
Because she was adopted. And because she was in foster care with parents she is still in touch with, and because she has a sister who lives elsewhere, and because all the other things that do not make for a “traditional” family, she realizes that she can not do a traditional family tree, and so doesn’t. She creates a whole landscape, as she puts people who took care of her, and became her parents, and became her family are included into the drawing.
Wonderful book, because it tries to cover all the other ways we can have a family, and be a family. There is a child conceived through IVF, and children with divorced parents, and foster parents, and the children that she met in foster care that became family.
Hopefully this will open up teachers’ eyes, as well as those of kids, that family can be anything. And because representation matters, there are kids that will find themselves in this book.
Highly recommended.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
August 31, 2022
Lovely book for non-standard families with a kid in school trying to make a family tree. This one features an adopted child, but talks about how all sorts of people fit into her family: former foster parents and even their new foster kids, a sister who was adopted by another family, a friend whose mom did IVF, a friend whose parents are divorced, a cousin who had a surrogate and an egg donor, etc. It's a really straightforward kind of story, but when she decides to represent her birth mom with the moon it brought a little tear to my eye: she's there even when you can't see her. Stellar messaging for kids from all types of families to read.
April 7, 2022
Ada thought about all the people who made her feel like family.
When her homework assignment involves making a family tree, Ada is unsure of how to proceed. Where does an adopted child fit on a traditional tree? Luckily, Ada's surrounded by a terrific "root system" of wonderful, loving people who help her examine what it means to be a family.
This touching book is simply a pleasure to read and reread.
A big thank you to NetGalley and Tundra Books for the chance to read this.
When her homework assignment involves making a family tree, Ada is unsure of how to proceed. Where does an adopted child fit on a traditional tree? Luckily, Ada's surrounded by a terrific "root system" of wonderful, loving people who help her examine what it means to be a family.
This touching book is simply a pleasure to read and reread.
A big thank you to NetGalley and Tundra Books for the chance to read this.
May 31, 2022
This book was probably the best of the “families can be all different types of ways” books I have read so far. The story is a gentle but persistent critique of the family tree model. It shows how people who love each other can be interconnected and bound to one another in all sorts of ways, some of which can be complicated. Particular shout-out for the inclusion of families bound together through foster care! The way the ending unfolded was magic, purposeful, meaningful, and gave me chills.
January 5, 2022
4.5⭐
Wow, this is such a wonderful book about the many different types of family units beyond the traditional structure. It addresses adoption, fostering, IVF, surrogates and more. I love the inclusion and diversity in both the story and illustrations. Definitely an important read that we can do with more of.
I received an e-ARC of this book via Netgalley.
Wow, this is such a wonderful book about the many different types of family units beyond the traditional structure. It addresses adoption, fostering, IVF, surrogates and more. I love the inclusion and diversity in both the story and illustrations. Definitely an important read that we can do with more of.
I received an e-ARC of this book via Netgalley.
April 18, 2022
I was grateful to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for providing me with a free ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. Unfortunately, several of the pages are almost impossible to read in the digital format in which the book appears on my phone (which is the only place I can read Netgalley books that don't go to Kindle, as the Netgalley shelf app can't be downloaded onto my laptop or outdated iPad).
Despite this, I was able to read the story and appreciate its charms. I loved that it starts mid-action (the first line of the book is, "The handout was a drawing of a tree," and is accompanied by an illustration showing Ada sitting on a bed with her parents, all three of them staring in dismay at the handout). And I love that Ada's friends and family members are invited to draw directly on her family-tree handout, adding climbing roses, islands, rivers, and other symbols the various children use to describe their complicated family circumstances: conception by IVF or by surrogate, adoption, foster care, sibling through birth mothers but different adoptive parents, gay moms, gay dads, a mother-daughter foster care family, divorced parents who live in different homes where one has a sibling and the other doesn't, and so on. One of the main lessons of the book is definitely that traditional family trees are unlikely to work for many of today's modern families.
When Ada visits her little sister, who has been adopted by different parents, she says, "Mia's got to be in there because she's my sister. And you two have to be in there because you're Mia's parents. But there's nowhere to put you in the tree." Ada winds up making a coastline with one parent's Mexican folks in one area and the other parent's German parents in another, while the two moms are depicted as butterflies going back and forth between them. She includes foster kids now living with her former foster mothers and foster kids who used to live with her. When she has to add herself and her adopted parents, Ada puts them all as stars in the sky overlooking all the other parts, and her birth mother as the moon. This part of the story also quietly addresses the question adopted children have about why their birth parent gave them up.
In the end, we are shown Ada's tree, and how it has become a whole world. One hopes all teachers would lovingly accept all the variations that Ada has included. This is a beautiful book about the myriad ways people create their families.
Despite this, I was able to read the story and appreciate its charms. I loved that it starts mid-action (the first line of the book is, "The handout was a drawing of a tree," and is accompanied by an illustration showing Ada sitting on a bed with her parents, all three of them staring in dismay at the handout). And I love that Ada's friends and family members are invited to draw directly on her family-tree handout, adding climbing roses, islands, rivers, and other symbols the various children use to describe their complicated family circumstances: conception by IVF or by surrogate, adoption, foster care, sibling through birth mothers but different adoptive parents, gay moms, gay dads, a mother-daughter foster care family, divorced parents who live in different homes where one has a sibling and the other doesn't, and so on. One of the main lessons of the book is definitely that traditional family trees are unlikely to work for many of today's modern families.
When Ada visits her little sister, who has been adopted by different parents, she says, "Mia's got to be in there because she's my sister. And you two have to be in there because you're Mia's parents. But there's nowhere to put you in the tree." Ada winds up making a coastline with one parent's Mexican folks in one area and the other parent's German parents in another, while the two moms are depicted as butterflies going back and forth between them. She includes foster kids now living with her former foster mothers and foster kids who used to live with her. When she has to add herself and her adopted parents, Ada puts them all as stars in the sky overlooking all the other parts, and her birth mother as the moon. This part of the story also quietly addresses the question adopted children have about why their birth parent gave them up.
In the end, we are shown Ada's tree, and how it has become a whole world. One hopes all teachers would lovingly accept all the variations that Ada has included. This is a beautiful book about the myriad ways people create their families.
January 5, 2022
The Family Tree
by Sean Dixon
I received an e-arc of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a fantastic book! I volunteer as a court appointed special advocate to speak for the needs and best interest of children in foster care. Sometimes the best thing is to go home with a parent or family member once they get the help they need to be the best parent they can be. Other times the best thing is to be adopted by a new family. The one thing that is always true is that they have a complex familial history whether we’re talking about blood family, foster, adoptive, etc.
This will be an amazing and important resource to help kids understand that their situation while different from many of their classmates is not completely unheard of. Many children come from unique family situations and that is ok. Love and caring is what makes a family and that is the most important part of the story no matter how many people help you grow up.
This will be an excellent book to have in libraries, foster homes, foster support organizations, child welfare offices and any non nuclear family and even in nuclear families so those children can better understand their peers.
5/5
by Sean Dixon
I received an e-arc of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a fantastic book! I volunteer as a court appointed special advocate to speak for the needs and best interest of children in foster care. Sometimes the best thing is to go home with a parent or family member once they get the help they need to be the best parent they can be. Other times the best thing is to be adopted by a new family. The one thing that is always true is that they have a complex familial history whether we’re talking about blood family, foster, adoptive, etc.
This will be an amazing and important resource to help kids understand that their situation while different from many of their classmates is not completely unheard of. Many children come from unique family situations and that is ok. Love and caring is what makes a family and that is the most important part of the story no matter how many people help you grow up.
This will be an excellent book to have in libraries, foster homes, foster support organizations, child welfare offices and any non nuclear family and even in nuclear families so those children can better understand their peers.
5/5
July 3, 2022
This book is so perfect, it makes me cry every time I look at it.
This is a brilliant book which offers validation to every child who receives the square hole square peg "Family Tree" assignment. Yeah. What if your family doesn't fit the precise nuclear family formula?
Ada is adopted (her experience and solution echoes the author's experience). She wants to include her birth mother, her foster parents, her little sister from her birth mother, and other family/friends in less traditional arrangements. I learned some fantastic new words and concepts: "What-If Baby" (IVF): "What-If you're by yourself and you really want a baby? Then the birds and the bees have to get doctor's degrees". Another fabulous one: "Sure-Is-Great" (Surrogate). If this isn't magnificent enough, wait until you see Ada's actual project. I'm still crying. Just saying. Sean Dixon YOU ARE BRILLIANT. Thank you for what you have done for children EVERYWHERE who have received this assignment. And for every other reason.
This is a brilliant book which offers validation to every child who receives the square hole square peg "Family Tree" assignment. Yeah. What if your family doesn't fit the precise nuclear family formula?
Ada is adopted (her experience and solution echoes the author's experience). She wants to include her birth mother, her foster parents, her little sister from her birth mother, and other family/friends in less traditional arrangements. I learned some fantastic new words and concepts: "What-If Baby" (IVF): "What-If you're by yourself and you really want a baby? Then the birds and the bees have to get doctor's degrees". Another fabulous one: "Sure-Is-Great" (Surrogate). If this isn't magnificent enough, wait until you see Ada's actual project. I'm still crying. Just saying. Sean Dixon YOU ARE BRILLIANT. Thank you for what you have done for children EVERYWHERE who have received this assignment. And for every other reason.
April 12, 2022
I can't lie--I was wiping away a few tears at the end of this. But they were happy tears! This is a lovely, gentle, sensitive, and affirming exploration of all the different ways families are made. The story is heavy with metaphors, so I would recommend kids be at least elementary age and would definitely encourage an adult reading partner.
It's matter of fact and doesn't flinch away from uncomfortable or even possibly painful topics, but instead handles them with grace, love, and respect for the reader. This would be a wonderful resource for school psychologists and social workers, but also just a great book to read in class to spark discussion on what it means to be a family.
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!
It's matter of fact and doesn't flinch away from uncomfortable or even possibly painful topics, but instead handles them with grace, love, and respect for the reader. This would be a wonderful resource for school psychologists and social workers, but also just a great book to read in class to spark discussion on what it means to be a family.
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!
May 30, 2022
Not sure how to feel about this one. I thought the artwork was very simplistic. Which makes Ada’s family tree drawing feel more integrated. But also it’s so basic. The artist tried to incorporate different skin tones but I’m not even sure that was done particularly well.
I like the idea of shaping a family tree to be real and to reflect your family chosen and otherwise but also not a favorite for me. Like it just needs to stop being a project assigned in schools in my opinion.
I like the idea of shaping a family tree to be real and to reflect your family chosen and otherwise but also not a favorite for me. Like it just needs to stop being a project assigned in schools in my opinion.
December 4, 2021
This was a beautiful story of Ada who is adopted and how she incorporated her family into a family tree project. I love how inclusive this book was and that it showed families of all types and not just the typical "nuclear family". This book would be a great resource for teachers and students before the family tree project was introduced. It make take some of the anxiety out of the project.
October 22, 2024
Not my favorite. Ada has to create a family tree...but her family is not traditional so she doesn't know how to make it fit. She talks to others and each time adds new parts to her family illustration. I understand the point but it felt a bit like the author wanted to throw in every possible configuration of a nontraditional family.
February 3, 2022
This book really cements the idea that a family is who you choose to make it with while addressing many different things that can mix up a 'traditional' family.
I received an advanced reader from Net Galley
I received an advanced reader from Net Galley
February 27, 2022
A beautiful story about what is a family and how connections go far and beyond if you really think about it. It discusses different families and how no matter how different you may appear to others the importance is how loved, respected, and accepted you are by them.
July 10, 2025
The story was beautiful. I did find the actual text hard to follow sometimes because there is a lot of dialogue and I lost track of who was speaking. I also found it difficult to keep track of the relationships.
The heart of the story was beautiful though and that shine through.
The heart of the story was beautiful though and that shine through.
June 23, 2022
One of the cutest books I've read and very relevant to modern genealogy research. I couldn't have explained making a family tree better if I tried.
August 1, 2022
Lovely and important exploration of the fluidity and evolution of families.
abandoned-and-samples
November 6, 2022I received a sampler eARC courtesy of Tundra Books (NY).
November 29, 2022
A wonderful choice for any teacher considering doing a family tree project
December 1, 2022
Very thoughtful way to think about family trees if we need it. Think of ways to help include many different origin stories.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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January 17, 2024a great re-creation of what family can & does mean for many,
a very imaginative way to include all families
a very imaginative way to include all families
March 25, 2024
Sweet way to explain the complexities of non traditional family units.
January 16, 2023
Wonderful insight into the unique and beautiful family connections of adopted children.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews