The only branch on the family tree by Sherryl Clark

Gemma and her mum are a family, her dad, not around and a ‘closed subject’. When her teacher, Mrs Wellcome, sets the class a project “Exploring Family” she makes it clear that everyone is different and this project will celebrate difference and love. Gemma’s best friend has lots of family to fill her project but Gemma decides she can make a collage filled with pictures of her with her mum, a nice surprise for her. She starts looking for photos in albums and the computer including one with her grandparents when she was very small. Her mum had told her they died, another ‘closed subject’ but then Gemma finds another photo, clearly of her grandma in front of some Olympic rings, the photo quite recent. Why would her mum lie to her? why has she denied her a nan for 11 years? How can she trust what she says? Questions too big to answer, and Gemma has a big bucket of words too big to let out, a situation dealt with sensitively by her teacher.  Maybe she can find her nan on her own, and with the help of a notebook Gemma shares her plan with friend Marley and they search together on the computer. By writing down questions and what they find, Gemma starts to feel better, her family tree, represented by a simple illustration throughout the text, starts to grow. Gemma’s journey is sensitively communicated in this verse novel, a form which sounds challenging but isn’t, the blank verse has an immediacy, a stripped back essence of storytelling like song lyrics. Her journey is difficult, requiring resourcefulness and bravery, risking the destruction of the precious relationship she has with her mother. Gemma doesn’t give up, she accepts her teacher’s advice to be patient and she is rewarded for the effort. The words from Gemma’s poem on page 97 are particularly poignant

 “My nan
She’s like a stranger
I always knew”

Family estrangement can take many forms and here Sherryl Clark has sensitively explored one example. There are kids helpline details at the end of the book.

Themes: Family estrangement, Verse novel.

Sue Speck