The Last Tree Town

March 1, 2020
Seventh grade has brought many changes in the life of 12-year-old Cassi, and she must figure out how to be herself through them all. Daniella, Cassi's older sister, has started high school and gone from being her best friend to a sullen and withdrawn stranger around the house. Her beloved Buelo has dementia and must now reside in a nursing home. Cassi has also become aware--and bothered by the realization--that though she feels very much connected to her Puerto Rican background on her mother's side, others do not readily recognize the white, red-headed girl's identity as Latinx (she gets her coloring from her Irish American father). On the other hand, this year she has qualified for Math Olympics, her best and favorite activity. And she's made a friend in Aaron, a new, white student in school and a fellow member of the Math Olympics team. It is from Aaron's story that the book gets its title (his father is writing a memoir about living in towns named for trees). Cassi's character is well developed, making this first-person narration the ring true, but the other characters in the story are not as fully formed. Ironically, at times it is difficult to decide if Turley's handling of Cassi's looks reinforces or dispels the myth that Latinx people have a specific, definable appearance. The book ends on a hopeful note that does not trivialize the hurdles this smart young character faces. A sensitive story of family, friendship, and personal growth. (Fiction. 10-13)

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April 15, 2020
Grades 4-7 On Cassi's first day of seventh grade, her sister, Daniella, begins high school. Cassi joins the Math Olympics team, befriends a new classmate, and struggles with the fact that her looks don't reflect her Puerto Rican heritage. Meanwhile, although the sisters are members of a warm extended family, Daniella has begun to withdraw from everyone after the girls' grandfather was moved into a nursing home. Cassi tries to understand her sister's troubles and even stoops to reading her diary. In the spring, a climax brings help for Daniella, who is dealing with depression, and hope for both sisters. The author of If This Were a Story (2018), Turley creates a cast of well-defined, often colorful characters and an intertwined set of relationships. Well organized and well paced, Cassi's first-person narrative will engage readers from the start, and the inclusion of excerpts from Daniella's diary creates a dual perspective that makes the story more complex, yet more understandable. A rewarding chapter book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)