The Monkey Tree

Susanna's great-uncle hasn't left his bedroom for twenty years. Her mother says that he was one of those children born without skin, so sensitive that everything hurt him. With her artist's eyes and feelings, Susanna can understand the appeal of the beautiful little sanctuary to Uncle Louis. It's a treasure room – a place for hoarding and holing up against the world. Susanna would like to hide there with him. In this powerful new novel, Janet S. Anderson, acclaimed author of Going Through the Gate, shares the observations and stinging emotions of a fourteen-year-old girl in retreat from the world. The brutal betrayal of a friend and the scathing comments of a teacher send Susanna deep within herself, searching fearfully for a way to safely connect again. Uncle Louis, with his silences and shared artist's skills, seems to offer that. But a fiercely determined, funny neighbor and the demands of her own curiosity pull Susanna back into experience. And when tragedy comes, she learns that what she has to give can be enough.

Ms. Anderson's previous novel, Going Through the Gate, received a starred review from School Library Journal and a pointer from Kirkus. And Publishers Weekly noted that it brilliantly evokes the fear and exhilaration of growing up.