The Secrets of Tree Taylor by Dandi Daley Mackall

​In the summer of 1963, Tree Taylor has two goals she wished to achieve; 1) write an article that will grant her the freshman journalist position at the school newspaper, Blue and Gold, and 2) experience her first real kiss, the kind worth writing about. At thirteen-years-old, Tree already knows that she wants to be a writer, she only needs a story to write about.
One morning while Tree is sitting on her porch trying to come up with an idea for her article, the sound of a gunshot echoes through the early morning air. Tree instantly knows what her article is going to be about. The more she digs into the Kinney incident, however, the more she wonders whether the secrets she is uncovering are the ones that she should write about.
This was an interesting novel, though I neither liked nor disliked it.
The characters in this novel are very well written, constructed and thought out; their personalities are highly realistic and, despite the differences in the times, easy to connect to.
The small town setting is cute and quaint. It reminds me, in some ways, of the small town that I grew up in. It is the kind of town where everyone knows everyone and a secret is never really a secret. Of course, when you are a child, things are not always as clear or apparent to you as they are when you are an adult. I think that is why Mrs. Kinney’s secret was such a big thing for Tree.
Of course, since Tree is thirteen and I am not, I was able to discern Mrs. Kinney’s secret almost from the beginning, as well as Penny’s secret. Despite the title of the book, Tree didn’t have a lot of secrets of her own.
I really did not like the ending of this novel. For me, it was as though it never ended, especially with regard to her friend Jack. The mysteries behind Mrs. Kinney’s secret and Penny’s fear were cleared up rather nicely, there was both an answer and a resolution. But with regard to Jack, and a select few other characters, there wasn’t any resolution, no way for the reader to walk away satisfied.
I would recommend this novel to young readers who enjoy historical coming-of-age novels.
I bought my copy of this novel from my local Dollar Tree. I have been denied permission to use an image of the cover artwork above because my review is less than positive.