I'm NOT trying to fight tree huggers, but I grew up with a monster in my backyard
Plus some poison apples, Meryl Streep, and Kirkus didn't hate me this time!
Where I grew up, trees are a singular event.
As in, single trees often stand out, because there aren’t a ton of them. I still remember the white willow tree out front of one of my childhood homes. It made for excellent climbing.
Don’t get me wrong, Utah does have trees. In fact, Utah is home to Pando, the largest tree/organism in the world. Pando is the monster that basically lived in my backyard.
But in Utah, even exploring Pando, there’s space and breath between the branches. It’s a desert, after all. You very rarely find yourself in a place where you can’t see the sky, or find an overlook, or look around and have enough space to see where you are. In Utah, our defining geographical feature is the mountains.
Now, this is all in stark1 contrast to some of the places I’ve lived since, specifically the pacific northwest, which is basically straight out of a Grimm’s Fairy Tale, and now Florida, which is basically Jurassic Park. In these places, you can take five steps and easily find yourself completely overwhelmed and overpowered in tree and green.
I have found this to be slightly frightening, to be honest. Like the forest is going to swallow me. One of my best friends and college roommates is from the pacific northwest, and when we were in college in Utah together, I found it fascinating talking to her about trees, how much she loved them, and how it was the mountains that she found ominous.
My mountains? My protective, Helms Deep safety place, where you can go up and see forever?
But yeah, and safe is how she felt about her trees.
Of course there’s so much psychology of place and where a person grows up behind all of this, which I also find fascinating, and it’s so cool how the places we’ve lived shape us and the things we write/make.
But we had one particular conversation that I still think about, that unlocked a small reason why, for me particularly, forests can be a bit freaky. I was asking her about not being able to see around you. Particularly at night. Isn’t that frightening? What do you do then, if you can’t see something coming?
“Well, I’d hear it coming,” she said.
Oh. Oh.
See, I wouldn’t. I’m technically an HoH gal who wore hearing aids in middle school and technically still should. So if I can’t see where I am, I feel even more cut off.
And isn’t that what grief and anger do? Isolate you? Cut you off from others and then your own senses?
Cue…
“Stranger Things meets A Monster Calls in this spine-tingling, emotionally rich middle grade novel about a boy who must protect his neighborhood from a malevolent monster tree while dealing with the recent loss of his father.”
I hope Tolkien will one day forgive me for turning a tree into a monster. But it’s actually a…well, I won’t give any spoilers. You’ll just have to read it ;)
And Kirkus (who I’ve been bitten by before) said some truly generous, lovely things about Linus and his Monster Tree:
Some books are easy, and some are tough, and this one did feel a bit like untangling a mess of branches. I put all the messiness of both forests and feelings in this book, and that cute girl on the cover is even HoH too, and wears hearing aids. (She’s braver than me.) ((Also Linus is a colorblind artist, which is his own challenge to face.))(((apparently this book filled up my senses like a night in the forest.)))
This book required a lot of deep digging, and I’m excited to talk more about it in the weeks to come. But first I have a question:
What geographical feature defines your place? And even your writing/creativity?
And now…
Let’s talk about TREES!
10 (Slightly) Terrifying Trees!
1. The Biggest Thing In The World
How do you take a picture of the biggest thing in the world? Well, this really cool documentary from The Friends of Pando shows you how! And did you know Pando means “I spread?”
2. The Grey Lady of the Dark Hedges:
If you’re a Game of Thrones fan, you may recognize the Dark Hedges of Northern Ireland. They are governmentally protected and said to be haunted by the Grey Lady. All I’m saying is that I’m not the first person to be a bit cautious about trees and ITS FOR A REASON.
3. Monster Trees are hard to kill.
Remember those awful fires in Maui a few year ago? Well, one of the casualties was an old and gigantic banyan tree. The oldest banyan tree in the US, spanning multiple acres. The good news is, despite the damage, the tree has survived and even shows signs of new growth.
4. If I were a tree probably
5. Even Tolkien acknowledged there was something up with those trees.
“I thought all the trees were whispering to each other, passing news and plots along in an unintelligible language; and the branches swayed and groped without any wind. They do say the trees do actually move, and can surround strangers and hem them.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
6. “Trees,” by Joyce Kilmer
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
7. The Most Poisonous Tree in the World
Did you know that the most poisonous tree in the world, the Manchineel tree, grows a fruit called manzanilla de la muerte or “little apple of death.” I swear these scary plant fairytales write themselves!
8. A Forest of Stories
Check out
’s review of this gorgeous tree book here!9. Big Tree
This is a lush and large and gorgeously illustrated book, but I’m specifically recommending the audiobook because it’s read by freakin’ Meryl Streep. Brilliantly, of course. The perspective characters in this are two tree seedlings in the time of the dinosaurs, and it is just phenomenal how Selznick gets into that POV.
10. Teacher Resources
Teachers, librarians, and homeschool parents, I’ve got some fun Tree activities and lesson plans for you and your students!
Leaves and Trees for little learners, for grades PreK-1.
Life Cycle of an Apple Tree, for grades K-3rd.
Elements of Poetry Poet-Tree, for grades 4-8.
I would love to do a free virtual Q&A with your class or book group! If you’re interested in scheduling a visit you can reach out to me via my website. Let me know how I can support you! I’ve also got free classroom resources to accompany each book. You guys are rock stars!
Thanks for reading everyone!
The Smorgasbord is a hand-kneaded, hand-shucked, reader supported publication. You can support by buying a delicious book or by becoming a paid subscriber. It seriously means the world, you shining star you.
-Sarah
P.S. I’ve got a surprise!! We’ve got a new Courses page up and running, with two classes available so far: Reaching the Pedals: Writing Middle Grade Characters That Drive the Plot and Diamonds in the Rough: Revising for Poetic, Sparkling Prose.
These classes (and more coming) are an extra resource for paid subscribers. This newsletter is and always will be free, but the classes are one of the bonuses I’ve long wanted to provide for those with paid subscriptions. Whether you’re a paid subscriber or not, a serious thank you for being here!
Congrats Sarah! My mom has a monster oak tree that towers over her house - its the oldest tree in town!
Congratulations on the wonderful Kirkus Review, Sarah! Those can be tough. And although I do love trees myself, I'm not opposed to a monster tree either :)