Hardcover reprint coming July 28, 2025
An imaginary bilingual English/Spanish tale of self-discovery told by a child who grows, learns about the natural world, embraces others, and is free to become who they are meant to be–a child as unique as a tree.
What does it mean to be like a tree?
For one young child, it all begins
as a tiny seed
that is free to grow
and reach out to others
while standing strong and tall-
just like a tree in the natural world.
With this gentle and imaginative story about becoming your fullest self, Maya Gonzalez empowers young readers to dream and reach… and to be as free and unique as trees.
Maya Gonzalez is an award-winning children’s book artist, author, activist and progressive educator. Their work addresses systemic inequity in relation to race/ethnicity, sexism, and cissexism using children’s books as radical agents of change and healing, both personally and culturally. Gonzalez co-founded Reflection Press, a POC, queer and trans owned independent publishing house that uses holistic, nature-based, and anti-oppression frameworks in their books and materials for kids and grown-ups. They are also the creator of the Gender Wheel, a tool to express the dynamic, infinite and inclusive reality of gender, and provides lectures and workshops to educators, parents and caregivers. Visit them online at mayagonzalez.com.
Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Kirkus Reviews
Texas Library Association (TLA)
* "An exquisitely crafted call to honor ourselves, one another and the natural world."
"This bilingual story is an anthem to the innate strength and individuality of children and trees...Gonzalez's art and text invite reader participation on multiple levels, thereby appealing to a wider audience."
"The art has a magically realistic feel, as children become one with the roots, trunks, and branches of their trees."
In the first children's book to describe the long-forgotten chapter of US history known as Mexican Repatriation, a boy and his family leave their beloved home to avoid being separated by the government.
En el primer libro infantil que describe el capítulo olvidado de la historia de los Estados Unidos conocido como la Repatriación Mexicana, un niño y su familia dejan su amado hogar para evitar ser separados por el gobierno.
