How to Grow a Family Tree

Can a family tree be found? A girl stresses over her heritage-mapping school assignment, until she realizes family is all around—her neighbors and friends.

All week, Emmylou’s classmates get up and present their family trees. These trees are thick with branches, and there are stories to go with each face and name. Emmylou’s tree is almost bare. There’s her, Mama, and the names Mama won’t say—the stories she doesn’t tell. 

By the end of the week, Emmylou wants the project to be over. She doesn’t want to think about her family tree at all. After all, she only has one family recipe, the one she trades with Mrs. Patel for her mango chutney. She has no aunts or cousins—only Rosa next door to watch Emmylou after school. No siblings—only Rosa’s baby twins for Emmylou to play peek-a-boo with. No zayde like Eli’s to teach her to ride a bike—only Mr. Li, who doesn’t complain when she runs over his foot. 

Finally Emmylou knows what to tell her class. Her family isn’t so small—she just had to look for  it.  

Bea Birdsong tells a tender story of found family and the bonds we choose, with art by Jasu Hu, illustrator of Howard Schwartz’s All You Need and Janet Fox’s Wintergarden.