'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Thursday 1 September 2022

Review: Milly And The Mulberry Tree

Milly And The Mulberry Tree is a delightful story about family, belonging and growing up. 

With a glorious colour palette and accessible language, this joyful book encourages readers to appreciate the wonder of the world around us.

Milly and her papa plant a tree in their front garden when Milly is just a wee dot of a girl. Together they love the tree, tending it and watching it grow.

When the mulberry tree’s limbs stretched out to the world, so did Milly’s.

Over the years, Milly discovers the beauty of silk worms who gorge on mulberry leaves, then weave their cocoons to emerge as beautiful butterflies. She is introduced to the joys of mulberries in a bowl, mulberries in ice cream, mulberry stains for Halloween costumes and mulberry dreams from faraway lands.

The illustrations are quite delightful, tracing as they do, Milly’s journey from toddler through small girl, to teenager and on to adulthood. It’s lovely to watch both Milly and the mulberry tree grow older, through the gentle pictures created with a simple and elegant colour palette.

Finally, when Milly is living in a faraway land and missing home, the mulberry tree and its inhabitants all visit in her imagination so that she is able to craft a very special garment…
…And bring it home for a very special occasion.

A lovely, hopeful and gentle book about the ties that bind and the ways that we can create and nurture traditions in our own families - while keeping home close to our hearts.  

Title: Milly And The Mulberry Tree
Author: Vikki Conley
Illustrator: Deb Hudson
Publisher: EK Books $24.99
Publication Date: 2 June, 2022
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781922539120
For ages: 4 - 8
Type: Picture Book