The Telephone in the Tree by Alison McGhee - OPTIONAL

The Telephone of the Tree by Alison McGhee, 196 pages. Rocky Pond (Penguin), 2024. $18. 

Content: G

BUYING ADVISORY: EL - OPTIONAL

APPEALS TO: SOME

10yo Ayla misses her best friend Kiri something fierce.  If Kiri would just return home, everything would be better. One day Ayla finds an old-fashioned telephone sitting in the branches of her favorite tree.  What could it be for? Then people start coming to the tree telephone to talk to their loved ones who are dead - what? 

Definitely, a book a therapist might prescribe for a child dealing with grief.  Or a book a teacher will read aloud to a whole class. Not so sure students will flock to this on their own. 

Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS