The Mulberry Tree

The Mulberry Tree is a captivating supernatural mystery for middle-grade readers, following ten-year-old Immy as her family relocates to a small English village. They hope to escape her father's depression, but their new cottage harbors an ancient, menacing mulberry tree with a dark legend: it steals girls on the eve of their eleventh birthday. Immy, initially skeptical, soon experiences strange occurrences that make her question everything. The book skillfully blends a suspenseful, goose-bumpy plot with realistic themes of moving, making new friends, dealing with parental struggles, and finding one's own identity. It's an excellent choice for children aged 8-11 who enjoy a good mystery with a touch of the spooky, offering opportunities to discuss fear, bravery, and family dynamics.

Is the eerie tree beside their bucolic cottage really a threat to ten-year-old Immy? Legend and hearsay give way to a creepy series of events in a captivating mystery. Do naught wrong by the mulberry tree, or she’ll take your daughters . . . one, two, three. Ten-year-old Immy and her family have run away from their storm cloud of problems to a tiny village in Cambridgeshire, England, where her depressed physician father can take a sabbatical and get back on his feet. Luckily, they find an adorable thatched cottage to begin a new life in. But their new home comes with one downside: in the backyard, there is an ancient, dark, and fierce-looking mulberry tree that has ceased bearing any fruit. There’s a legend that the towering tree steals away girls who live in the cottage on the eve of their eleventh birthday, and villagers even cross the street when they pass by the house. Of course, Immy thinks this is all ridiculous. But then she starts to hear a strange song in her head. . . . In a page-turner perfect for middle-graders, Allison Rushby folds themes of new-school travails, finding friends, being embarrassed by parents, and learning empathy into a deliciously goose-bumpy supernatural mystery.