Richie’s Picks: THE FAMILY TREE
Richie Partington
Richie’s Picks: THE FAMILY TREE by Liz Garton Scanlon, Audrey Vernick, and Fiona Lee, ill., Simon & Schuster/Beach Lane, September 2025, 48p., ISBN: 978-1-6659-4837-1
“Nicknames for a maple seed include helicopters, whirlybirds, twisters, whirligigs, spinning jennys, propellers, and pug noses. The technical term for a maple seed is a samara, which is the name for the winged fruit that helps it spin and travel from the parent tree.”
“Maple tree seeds, also known as samaras, can be stuck on your nose. These seeds have a wing-like structure that allows them to spin like a helicopter as they fall, and they are often called ‘helicopter seeds’ or ‘whirlybirds’. People sometimes refer to them as ‘polly noses’.”
– Google AI
“We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden”
– Joni Mitchell (1970)
“But then
Something happens,
something that gets
everyone’s attention.
It starts out small.
Penny pauses at a hint of green in the middle of the kitchen floor.
Is it a toy part? Runaway lettuce? The morning light?
Penny blinks, grabs her lunch, and, well…hurries out again.
That night, Dad sees it too.
He takes off his glasses,
cleans the lenses, and keeps moving.
When Mom gets home
with dinner, she catches
a glimpse of whatever it is
and just say, ‘Huh.’
Bo-Belly growls a low growl.”
A family that is busy all the time, and seems to never slow down and actually commune as a family, finds happiness in and through nature when the seed of a maple tree takes root in the middle of their kitchen floor. And, yes, by the end of the tale, when the multiracial family and their family dog are all blissed out–thanks to the resulting nature that now dominates their home, there is, in fact, a roofing company involved!
The story begins on the front endpapers. We see a maple seed helicoptering through an open window.
They name their tree, Tree. And Tree makes for a happier, closer, and more meditative existence. They slow down and take a breath. Their lives are filled with love, color, and contentment. It’s a great reminder to get out into nature (or bring it home).
Let’s just hope that, somehow, our precious national treasures, the parks and other protected lands, survive the current climate.
“The illustrations for this book were rendered in a mix of watercolor patterns, textures, and digital drawings, layered in Adobe Fresco.”
The visual result is an expressive, memorable, trio of family members along with their adorable and expressive dog. And, of course, Tree, in all its glory.!
Richie Partington, MLIS
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