A family tree assignment leads an adopted girl to discover the different ways to be a family.

When her teacher gives her class a simple family tree assignment, Ada is stumped. How can she make her family fit into this simple template?

Ada is adopted. She can see where to put her parents on the tree, but what about her birth mom? Ada has a biological sister, but her sister has different adoptive parents — where do they go on the tree?

But with the help of her friends and family, Ada figures it out. She creates her family tree . . . and so much more.

Loosely based on the author's own experience, this moving story explores the different ways families are created and how the modern family is more diverse and welcoming than ever before.

Sean Dixon is a novelist and playwright, co-founder of the seminal 90s Winnipeg physical Theatre Company PRIMUS. His novels include The Girls Who Saw Everything (published in the UK as The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal) and The Many Revenges of Kip Flynn. His recent plays include Theatrefront's The Orange Dot, (which Toronto Star's Karen Fricker called a "finely nuanced observation of male-female interaction ... that is part triumph, part tragedy of wronged, vengeful women"), Blyth Festival's The Wilberforce Hotel (published by Scirocco, about a short-lived African American settlement in 1830's Ontario) and Tarragon Theatre's 'A God in Need of Help' , based on the true story of four strong men who were forced to carry a painting over the Alps in the early 17th Century (GG nominated for best new play). Upcoming is a play for the Tarragon (Orphan Song) about two different species of early humans involved in the elemental experience of adoption, and a children's picture book about a kid making a family tree.

Sean Dixon's profile page

Lily Snowden-Fine is an illustrator and multi-disciplinary artist living in Vancouver. Since studying at the Ontario College of Art and Design, she has illustrated two children’s books for Thames and Hudson Publishing, as well as illustrated for such clients as the New York Times, the Globe and Mail, Soho House London, the National Film Board of Canada, and Hornet Animation. Her upcoming projects include a third in the series for Thames and Hudson, and a children’s book for Penguin Random House.

Lily Snowden-Fine's profile page

One of CCBC's Best Books for Kids & Teens (Fall 2022)

“With a quiet and gentle tone, and a consistent metaphor, The Family Tree normalizes one child’s background and, by extension, the lives of all our children.” —Imaginary Elevators
"[A] good book for families to explore differences, similarities, and celebrate each family’s own uniqueness." —CM Magazine
"There are numerous ways to create a family; this book thoughtfully explores some of them. Ada's extended family is one of diversity, acceptance, and shared love." —Sal's Fiction Addiction
"Read along as [Ada] creates more than her family tree, while learning that the modern family is more diverse than ever before." —Story Monsters Ink