For newcomers and for welcomers.
Author: Katherine Applegate (Twitter: @kaauthor)
Copyright: 2017
Everyone has a story. Well this story is about a tree. A tree that has heard and witnessed a lot in the amount of time to develop 216 rings and been through 864 seasons.. Red, the main character is an oak tree that became identified as the “wishtree” of the neighborhood she lives. What’s Red’s goal in life, to make a wish come true. Can she do it?
Just like in Aladdin and how he has three wishes from the genie, it would be difficult to narrow down meaningful wishes. Thinking from general to global wishes, the idea that on Wishing Day, a wish may come true is overwhelming. It did for Maeve, who was the first person to tie a wish to a tree. She was a 16 year old immigrant from Ireland who moved away from her family for a better life. For comfort, Maeve continued her cultural way of making a wish. Her wish was answered and made her undeniably happy, but it made her misunderstood as well. Why? She wished for someone to love and she received a baby that was not of her own. Rather the baby had different genetics, ethnicity and cultural heritage, but she loved this baby as her own no matter the difference. This happened in Red’s early days.
“The years passed, and Maeve became as connected to the neighborhood as I was, even as newcomers from other lands added their music and food and language to our little part of the world” (p. 133).
But there was one wish from Samar Red wants to complete. Samar is a young Muslim girl needing a friend. Her family was marginalized by being racially and ethnically profiled in their neighborhood.
LEAVE. Carved and marked right into Red’s trunk. It became a symbol for the community.
Threatened. Unsafe. Uncertainty.
Immigration- Katherine Applegate’s inclusion of Samar within this book brings children into an awareness of specific populations being stereotyped and marginalized in society. The word “leave” that was carved into Red was a marker of constant political anguish citizens in the U.S. are pressured with in how citizenship is determined and what makes a U.S. citizen.
The area that Red grew in was constantly welcoming new people as shown when Maeve was alive. The tree seemed to be a marker of welcoming people, possibly like the Statue of Liberty is nationally representative of freedom and welcoming immigrants into the United States.
Now the wishes have become careless and more materialistic. Is this how we think now?
Samar’s wish gave Red a motivation and desire to fulfill this meaningful wish because she didn’t believe she has made a difference in the world yet. Through trial and error Red and the other animals tried to help form a friendship between Samar and her neighbor Samuel. Nothing worked until Red broke the #1 rule...speak.
Stay
The relationship that blossomed between Samar and her neighbor Samuel at first was pressured. There seemed to be a constant hesitation that Samar had in directly communicating with her neighbor Samuel that Katherine Applegate portrayed, but I think it was purposeful in how people may feel unwanted in society. Samar’s difference and in ethnicity and culture was directly threatened and I believe that even though the character’s relationship was only told outside of school, students that feel marginalized or stereotyped feel more profiled at school.
The accuracy in botany that Katherine Applegate incorporates in this book makes the reader not only dive into fiction, but learn factual information. Katherine Applegate acknowledges Dr. Lisa Leach and Elena Giovianazzo for their role in being experts that deepened the readers knowledge of plants, animals and weather. These facts throughout the book made Red more realistic and memorable for readers to reflect on trees, plants and animal they see in their surroundings. Katherine Applegate included these facts mostly with intriguing imagery. Along with the factual information withheld in the book, Katherine Applegate made this a good children’s book because of the short syntax and shorter length chapters. Doing this made the readers feel less overwhelmed. When tier 3 vocabulary appeared in describing aspects of botany, she developed a kid-friendly definition as told by the main character Red.
I learned so much about plants and other animals and some of the facts I learned are below!
-Wishtrees can all be found around the world, but the most notable area of having wishtrees are in Ireland
-Photosynthesis: “In a mysterious dance of sunlight and sugar, water and wind and soil, we build invisible bridges to connect with the world” (p. 21).
-Hollows are a safe place within a tree that animals can use as a “home” for protection from other animals and weather
-”Made oceans of oxygen for people to breathe” (p. 80).
Applegate, K. (2017) Wishtree. New York: Feiwel and Friends.
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