This Very Tree: A Story of 9/11, Resilience, and Regrowth

Twenty years after 9/11, Rubin revisits the tragedy through the eyes of a tree that survived the devastation, providing a poignant tribute to a city’s resilience and a powerful introduction to the topic for young readers. The Callery pear tree, planted at the World Trade Center Plaza in the 1970s, narrates the true story in personal prose: “It was an ordinary morning. Until it wasn’t.” After sunny, green-tinged spreads turn dark, black and gray frames depict the tree as it stands buried under tons of twisted rubble. Paneled illustrations aptly speed or slow the narrative, following the subject’s wounding, rescue, and rehabilitation—in an uplifting spread, the growing tree is shown in parallel with the construction of One World Trade Center—to its eventual replanting at the ground zero memorial, where its blossoming branches symbolize hope. Back matter includes more details on 9/11 and the tree, noting that many of its seedlings have been gifted to other communities that have experienced a tragedy. Ages 4–8. [em](May) [/em]