The Crooked Tree

 In The Crooked Tree, 15 year old Libby is obsessed with a book she got from her father. The book is The Field Guide Of Trees In North America. Her Irish immigrant father tells her that a crooked tree near their home in rural Pennsylvania might be crooked because it was bent that way when it was a sapling by Native Americans as a trail marker. Libby is the worrier in the family and I could just feel her anxiety as she narrated the story. Libby leaps to the worst case scenario but once in awhile the worst case scenario appears. One night at the last day of school before summer vacation, Libby is heading home in the car with her mother, brother, and two sisters. Her mother gets overwhelmed with the squabbling in the back seat and impulsively orders Libby's 12 year old sister to get out of the car and walk home. She gets out of the car and has 5 miles to walk and darkness is coming soon. That rash act changes the course of the family. I think Una Mannion wrote a fantastic coming of age story.