am Children's Awards GOLD medal - Winner of the 2023 Independent Publisher Book Awards. Moving to a new city can be a heartbreaking experience, but also an opportunity to grow. This Birch Tree will realize that even in the darkest spots, one can shine brighter than ever.

The day they took me out of my home and loaded me onto a truck changed everything. I went from living surrounded by nature, with my brothers, to ending up girdled by towering buildings in a polluted, noisy city. I was homesick. Accepting that change was extremely difficult, but then I started to realize that the city was not that bad after all. A friendly gardener took care of me. He watered my soil, gave me fertilizer, and trimmed my dry branches so that a pair of finches could nest in them. I began to feel very useful, as I gave people my shade, my oxygen, and my gently-flavored seeds. I soon understood that hope and love could manifest anywhere in the world, so I decided to put down roots.

A story that invites us to see adversities as opportunities, and to trust that changes, despite surprising us, can help us grow.