My Sister the Apple Tree

In this moving picture book, inspired by the author’s experience as a Syrian refugee, a child’s profound love for his family’s apple tree gives him courage when he must flee his homeland.

When a young boy asks his parents why he doesn’t have a brother or sister, his mother replies that on the day he was born, they planted an apple tree in their front yard. ＂The apple tree is your sister,＂ she says. At night, the boy wraps a blanket around his sister’s trunk and during the day he shares all of his secrets with her. One day, they see helicopters in the sky and his parents tell him they must flee. But how can he leave his sister behind? Instead he digs her up and carries her away from their homeland. When they arrive to a new place, the air is colder and the ground is hard. Home feels so far away. But as his sister grows taller and her branches blossom, the boy realizes that he will always be connected to his homeland, even as he begins to embrace his new one.

This moving and hopeful refugee story is written by Syrian activist Jamal Saeed and co-written by acclaimed poet Jordan Scott. Illustrated by award-winning artist Zahra Marwan, who drew inspiration from her own immigration from Kuwait, this gorgeous book reminds readers that nothing is left behind forever.

Jordan Scott is a poet and children’s author. His debut children’s book, I Talk Like a River, was a Schneider Family Book Award recipient, a New York Times Best Children’s Book, and has been translated into nineteen languages. His other picture books include My Baba’s Garden, a Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book and New York Public Library Best Book of the Year, and Angela’s Glacier, which received four starred reviews. He lives on Vancouver Island and teaches at the UBC School of Creative Writing.

Jamal Saeed is an activist, editor, visual artist, and author who spent years as a prisoner of conscience in Syria before fleeing to Canada with his family as refugees in 2016. He continues to raise awareness about Syria’s ongoing civil war and humanitarian crisis through his work. This is his first picture book. Jamal lives in Kingston, Ontario.

Zahra Marwan grew up in two deserts: one close to the sea in Kuwait, the other close to the mountains in New Mexico. She is the author-illustrator of Where Butterflies Fill the Sky: A Story of Immigration, Family, and Finding Home, which was a New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Book, an NPR Best Book and recipient of an Ezra Jack Keats Honor for Illustration. Zahra lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she keeps a small studio at the Harwood Art Center.