My Brother's Shadow is a terribly sad story about a family who is frozen and completely unable to move forward after a terrible tragedy - the death of Kaia's brother.

The tree book was his last present to Kaia but she was so excited by the new bike that she got at the same time that she only pretended that she had read it. It was only after his death that she found another gift and a special message inside it.

Her friends don't know how to cope with her being sad all the time so they leave her on her own and she becomes more and more frozen. There is a particular girl who is a bully and takes every chance she can to make Kaia's life more miserable.

As the book starts an imaginary friend appears and he gives her the strength to carry on living again. Please don't be put off by the sadness in this book because it also has hope in it. I felt so happy when Kaia's Mum managed to pull herself together and found a job.

I loved this book right from the start because Kaia, who tells the story, keeps mentioning the botanical names of the trees she sees. When I was very young and still in my pushchair my Grandma taught me the botanical names of the trees we passed on our way to Toddler Group. My favourite was Garrya Eliptica, I remember the long seed heads that made me think of hair.

When you get to the part in the book where Kaia reads her book review to the class you will need a box of tissues because it is incredibly moving, I loved reading the reaction to it of Kaia's teacher and class mates. Watch out too for nail biting moments at the end of the book.

It might make me sound mean but I was very pleased at the end that it was Poppy the bully who became isolated.

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