The Paperbark Tree Committee (Karys McEwen, Text)

The Paperbark Tree Committee, Karys McEwen’s second middle grade novel following All the Little Tricky Things, is a tender, compassionate story about navigating transitions and finding support in unexpected places. Art is a sensitive, perceptive 12-year-old whose happy-go-lucky younger brother, Hilary, seems to be settling into their uprooted life more easily than him. With their mum moving overseas for work, Art and Hilary must adjust to a new home with their distracted novelist father and kind stepmum, Sally, as well as a shift from regional Queensland to bustling Melbourne. Art and Hilary seek refuge in the paperbark tree across the road from their house, where they can problem-solve their day-to-day struggles. McEwen creates a relatable and sweet narrator in Art, who is balancing the desire to try out new things at school and his worries about not meeting his dad’s expectations and that Sally may grow tired and eventually leave. The Paperbark Tree Committee, with its authentic depiction of big emotions and complex family dynamics, is sure to find a welcome home in libraries and classrooms, especially for fans of Samera Kamaleddine’s The Sideways Orbit of Evie Hart. Its characters are vivid and distinctive, with the loving horticulturalist stepmum a highlight. Sally’s warmth is a welcome relief from the brothers’ emotionally absent parents, whose lack of interest in their children can sometimes feel overblown.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Charlotte Callander is a freelance writer and an educator at Melbourne Museum. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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