What Is It?

The premise of this book is that family is not about DNA — possibly a surprising perspective to see hosted by someone who has reviewed genealogical DNA testing in the past.  But one of the beautiful things to me about family is that there are so many ways family can be built.  And that, in essence, is the message of this book.

No Family Tree is young adult fiction.  The story revolves around middle schooler Tessie Parker, who is greatly distraught when her English teacher assigns a family tree project.  Tessie’s parents are both adopted, so she envisions a family “twig,” and imagines this project will embarrass her, dredge up old wounds for her dad, and be less than impressive as a project intended to comprise a large part of her grade.

A trip to the rose show with her honorary grandmother, however, helps Tessie realize her family is actually plenty large — their connection just aren’t all blood.

What Did I Think?

To be honest, I wish the book didn’t have so much “boy stuff” in it.  I prefer to discourage my daughters from thinking in romantic terms about boys in middle school, so this is not a theme I’m thrilled about putting in front of them.  But that’s my only complaint.   (Well, Tessie’s paper also starts with Old Earth stuff, but that’s a matter of a couple of lines — completely insignificant to the overall story.)

It isn’t a long story, but it’s well-written, and it’s clean.  Tessie’s family has their issues, as we all do, but they ultimately demonstrate love toward one another, so I’d consider it good role model material overall.  Most important is that key message: family is bigger than DNA.  As a person who has family members related by blood, others by adoption, and others by “only” love, this is a message that’s close to my heart.

[Side note: This is an important message to keep in mind if you are one of those genetic genealogy folks!  Finding family we didn’t know we had only makes our families bigger, not smaller. 🙂  So please be kind to those adopted folks who reach out.]

There are some discussion points/questions at the end of the book, which is an added perk, especially given the discussion-worthy nature of this topic for families.  I would add one more: the dual ideas of family and grafting make for a perfect opportunity to discuss Romans 11 and how God grafts us into His family.