The Monkey Tree

VOYA - Jane Van Wiemokly

After fourteen-year-old Susanna's grandmother dies, Susanna and her family must decide what to do with her grandmother's house-and with Uncle Louis, who has not left his bedroom for twenty years. At first Susanna is frightened of Uncle Louis, but when she sees the art and beautiful objects he surrounds himself with, she begins to identify with him. She, too, is an artist and feels isolated. During the past year, one of Susanna's friends had rejected her to become one of the popular crowd and then publicly humiliated her. Even worse, Susanna's art teacher has caused her to lose all confidence in herself by declaring her art not good enough. Susanna thinks of herself as weird, and not able to think or talk like other people. It is only when she meets another teenage neighbor, who practically pushes Susanna into a new friendship with her, that she begins to feel better about herself. When Susanna's brother has a bad accident and Uncle Louis disappears, she calls upon all her abilities, and her new friend, for help. She realizes that everyone may not be as self-confident as they seem. Susanna's drawing of the monkey tree with its tail-less monkeys is finally understood by her (and the reader): the monkeys must hold on to each other or else they will fall. The monkeys need others to survive, just as people do. Anderson, author of Going through the Gate (Dutton, 1997), beautifully conveys the story and atmosphere of Susanna's feelings of inadequacy, but some readers may not get the relationship between the monkey tree and her new view of life-the reader is not beaten over the head with it. VOYA Codes: 3Q 3P M J (Readable without serious defects, Will appeal with pushing, Middle School-defined as grades 6 to 8 and Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9).

School Library Journal

Gr 7-9-A dark and intense story of a 14-year-old girl's retreat from the world and her struggle to reconnect. After her grandmother dies, Susanna and her family spend the summer at Grandma's house to care for Great Uncle Louis, a recluse who hasn't left his bedroom in 20 years. Louis, like Susanna, is artistic and extremely sensitive. She empathizes with him. Betrayed by a friend and stung by some negative comments on her artwork by a teacher, Susanna has become friendless, fearful, and insecure. With some help from a fierce yet funny new friend, she begins to realize many things: life is hard, but also wonderful; it's important to take risks; being different doesn't mean being crazy; people need others; and art is very important to her. When Uncle Louis disappears, she is able to draw on her inner resources to deal with the situation. Susanna's paralysis of spirit and her nervousness are reflected in the jumpy, fragmented, somewhat stream-of-consciousness style of the novel-a style that is sometimes difficult to follow. Susanna draws a tree (hence the title) with monkeys hanging from branches and reaching out to help other monkeys climb up. This tree becomes a metaphor for her need to abandon her withdrawal and reach out to those around her. A difficult read with a limited audience.-Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME

Kirkus Reviews

In this empathetic portrait of a troubled teenager, Anderson (Going Through the Gate, 1997) makes ordinary problems weigh as heavily on readers as they do on the heroine.