The Linden Tree [With Earbuds] (Playaway Children) [Preloaded Digital Audio Player]

Ellie Mathews (Author), Marguerite Gavin (Narrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: Playaway Children

When eleven year old Katy Sue loses her mother, Edna, to meningitis, she and her family must adjust to life without her. The rural farm in the 1940’s provides a natural backdrop that is rhythmic and routine — and unforgiving, even when a family member dies. The house’s haunted emptiness is only filled when Aunt Katherine, Edna’s youngest sister, comes to the family’s aid, as does Jake, an ornithologist and long-time family friend. As Katy Sue, the youngest of the three children, watches Ingrid take on her mother’s domestic tasks and Ben help Papa on the farm, she struggles to define her place in the family and understand what the loss of her mother means for her now. With the guidance of her teacher Mrs. Breton, Katy Sue begins to contemplate the shape of her family and the farm through drawing, a process that allows her to accept her father’s soon-to-be wife, the farm life without her mother, and eventually, her own role within the family.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3–6—Most people in Katy Sue Hanson's rural Iowa community are buried in the churchyard, but when the girl's mother dies suddenly of meningitis in the spring of 1948, she's laid to rest on the family property, under a linden tree on a hill. Katy Sue calls it "our closest point to heaven." In the year that follows, the family members attempt to come to terms with their loss. While Katy's father and older brother try to keep the farm running as best they can, her 12-year-old sister attempts to fill their mother's place in the kitchen and resents the intrusion of their mother's sister, Aunt Katherine. Katy Sue, who narrates the story in a folksy yet poetic voice, seeks solace in drawing, and in conversations with her teacher and her father's friend Jake. The second half of the book takes an abrupt turn as Aunt Katherine and Katy's father "take up" with one another, a development that's somewhat confusing in its suddenness. Their relationship comes out into the open less than a year after Katy Sue's mother's death, and the children have no indication that they are becoming attracted to one another. But the honest account of a family's journey of grieving and healing is well portrayed, and may be cathartic for children who have suffered their own losses.—Christi Voth, Parker Library, CO
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

In her debut novel for youth, Matthews tells a timeless, heartfelt story of family, loss, and love, set on a small family farm in the 1940s. Katie Sue, the youngest of three children, is nine when her mother suddenly dies. Along with her sister and brother, Katie Sue does her best to help their father keep the farm and household running while nursing her profound sadness. When it becomes clear that the family needs help to fill the physical and emotional gaps, Katie Sue's father asks her mother's sister to move in. At first, Katie Sue relishes Aunt Katherine's attention, but when the novelty wears off and Aunt Katherine begins "raising" the children, Katie Sue struggles with the new relationship. Readers will enjoy the clear details of farm living, the genuine characters, and the strong family ties. Katie Sue and her family are immediately likable, and the well-drawn secondary characters add depth and texture to the story. A tender romance eventually blooms between Katie's father and Aunt Katherine, leading to a bittersweet but ultimately joyful conclusion. Heather Booth
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Preloaded Digital Audio Player
• Publisher: Playaway (September 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 143329611X
• ISBN-13: 978-1433296116
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE LINDEN TREE, September 4, 2007

By 

S. Griffith - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Linden Tree (Paperback)

THE LINDEN TREE is just about a perfect example of the gentle, thoughtful, nostalgic story of an old-fashioned family; it is set in the 1940s on an Iowa farm, told from the viewpoint of the ten-year-old youngest sister. At the story's outset, the children's mother has died suddenly, of meningitis. She has been buried under a linden tree on a hill on the family farm. The tree and its setting provide a reference point for the family's loving memories of her and their good-hearted efforts to find some happiness in the shadow of their loss.

The sadness of losing a wie and mother is a constant in the story, but the movement of the narrative is toward healing and incorporating the feelings of love and loss into a wholesome appreciation of the present--of the family's blessings, as they put it.

Apart from the account of the mother's death, there are no moments of high drama or sensational plot-twists in THE LINDEN TREE. Rather the story moves patiently and steadily along, telling of Aunt Katherine's joining the family, the arrival and departure of a charming transient hired man, the family's managing to have a merry Christmas in a sad time, their going to a church social, the county fair, the birth of a calf, doing the chores, canning the garden produce, and other homely, realistic details of life on the farm.

It is an ideal book for young readers interested in the way real people live and have lived, and who take satisfaction in imagining a way of life both similar to their own and subtly different in its tenor. THE LINDEN TREE is a sane, well-crafted novel.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quiet and true, August 7, 2007

By 

Andrea Potos (Madison, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Linden Tree (Paperback)

This is a beautifully written, poignant story that takes us into the heart of a grieving family after the unexpected and sudden death of the mother. The prose is crystalline and strong; the grief tender and real as slowly, small transformations of healing begin to occur.
A great story for adults as well.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a beautiful book, May 3, 2010

By 

L.A.W. (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Linden Tree (Hardcover)

I sat down with this book for a weekend and got transported to another time and place. I feel compelled to write a review because this story is truly beautiful. The characters are kind to each other. It is so refreshing to read a book where everyone is loving and nice. Even though the story is slightly predictable, I couldn't put it down. I think it perfectly illustrates what must happen when a loved one dies: people come together and things change. I expected a much sadder story, but instead the tears that I had while reading came from a longing for this bygone era. I don't usually read historical fiction, but this book made me want to read more. It just makes you want to slow down and unplug and love others. I think this is a great middle grade novel and a good novel for adults who need a nice, relaxing book.