The Last Apple Tree
Written by Claudia Mills
Ages: 9-12 | 264 Pages
Publisher: Holiday House (2025) | ISBN: 978-0823461882
Publisher’s Book Summary: Twelve-year-old Sonnet’s family has just moved across the country to live with her grandfather after her nana dies. Gramps’s once-impressive apple orchard has been razed for a housing development, with only one heirloom tree left. Sonnet doesn’t want to think about how Gramps and his tree are both growing old—she just wants everything to be okay.
Sonnet is not okay with her neighbor, Zeke, a boy her age who gets on her bad side and stays there when he tries to choose her grandpa to interview for an oral history assignment. Zeke irks Sonnet with his prying questions, bringing out the sad side of Gramps she’d rather not see. Meanwhile, Sonnet joins the Green Club at school and without talking to Zeke about it, she asks his activist father to speak at the Arbor Day assembly—a collision of worlds that Zeke wanted more than anything to avoid.
But when the interviews uncover a buried tragedy that concerns Sonnet’s mother, and an emergency forces Sonnet and Zeke to cooperate again, Sonnet learns not just to accept Zeke as he is, but also that sometimes forgetting isn’t the solution—even when remembering seems harder.
Available for purchase on: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Claudia Mills is the author of over 60 books for young readers, including most recently the verse novel The Lost Language and the middle-grade novel The Last Apple Tree, as well as two chapter-book series: Franklin School Friends and After-School Superstars. Her books have been named Notable Books of the Year by the American Library Association and Best Books of the Year by the Bank Street College of Education; they have been translated into half a dozen languages. Claudia is also a professor emerita of philosophy at the University of Colorado and a faculty member in the graduate programs in children’s literature at Hollins University. She has written all her books in her faithful hour-a-day system while drinking Swiss Miss hot chocolate.
For more information, check out claudiamillsauthor.com.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Life Is What It's Called - What inspired this story?
Claudia Mills - A few years ago, I saw an article in a University of Colorado newsletter about the Boulder Apple Tree Project, which is devoted to locating and preserving the county’s vanishing heirloom apple trees – one-of-a-kind trees whose genetic heritage is in danger of being lost forever. I have a weakness for people who try to save things, especially things that many people don’t know or care about. The Boulder Apple Tree Project also collects and preserves stories about these trees. This subject matter started to seem richer and richer! So I began pondering ideas for a book about an heirloom apple tree and the two seventh graders, a boy and a girl, who uncover its stories – including its secrets – when they interview her grandfather for a school oral history project.
Life Is What It's Called - How do you think The Last Apple Tree will resonate with the readers?
Claudia Mills - Both of my main characters, Sonnet and Zeke, are misfits in their middle school. Sonnet has just moved to a new town in a new state; her classmates are already formed into friendship groups. Zeke has previously been homeschooled; he, too, is an outsider. Even middle-schoolers who aren’t in a new school situation frequently feel as if they don’t “fit in” with their peers, so in this way they may identify with Zeke and Sonnet. Both Sonnet and Zeke also have difficult home situations. Sonnet, her mother, and her younger sister now live with her widowed grandfather who is still deeply grieving the recent loss of his beloved wife. Zeke’s father is highly critical of his son and engages in over-the-top environmental activism that Zeke finds embarrassing. Here, too, many adolescents feel uncomfortable in various ways within their own families. The central message of The Last Apple Tree is that belonging and healing come through honest communication – through sharing even our most painful stories and thereby allowing our families and friends to get to know us a little bit better. I think this is a message we all need to hear and one that will resonate with young readers.
Life Is What It's Called - Why is the message of The Last Apple Tree important in today's world?
Claudia Mills - We are currently living in a time of deep and seemingly unbridgeable political and cultural divides. The best way to try to connect with each other across these divides, in my view, is not through debate over whose views are the “right” ones. It’s through the sharing of personal stories, which allow us to see our commonalities despite our differences. When people of different political and religious beliefs share a meal, and in the process also share something of themselves, it’s harder to demonize those who voted for the other candidate and supported other policies. I believe that shared stories are our best hope right now.
Life Is What It's Called - If The Last Apple Tree was a food, what would it be and why?
Claudia Mills - Well, given that the star of the book is an heirloom apple tree, it’s irresistible to suggest an apple dessert. The book focuses on connections across generations, so the apple dessert should be one from bygone days that our grandparents and great-grandparents would have enjoyed. Apple crisp, apple cobbler, apple dumplings, apple brown betty – preferably served with whipped cream fresh from the family cow! I’m getting hungry just thinking about this!
Life Is What It's Called - How do you see this book being used in classrooms?
Claudia Mills - Because the events of the story are built around a middle-school language-arts unit on oral history, it is tailor-made to supplement a similar assignment in upper-elementary and middle- school classrooms. It would be a rewarding assignment to have students interview their own family members or neighbors, particularly those who are aging, to hear their untold stories before it is too late. The Author’s Note at the end of the book refers readers to the Smithsonian Institution Archives materials on “How to Do Oral History.” These include questions like the ones Sonnet and Zeke ask Sonnet’s grandfather – as well as encouragement to deviate from these when interview subjects have stories close to their hearts that they need to tell, as Gramps does here.
Life Is What It's Called - Can you tell us about your writing background?
Claudia Mills - I loved to write little books from the time I could write anything at all. I still have the first one I wrote, unimaginatively titled My Book, which contained only “nacher pictures” with one-word captions: e.g., tree, cloud, flower, sky. But at the end of this tiny book, I included an “ad card” for a future “Thick Book, 100 Pages, My Life” and “Big Book, 100 Pages, Powatree [my spelling for poetry].” I did go on to write a thick book of 100 pages about my life when I was in junior high school, one devoured by all my classmates (since they all appeared in its pages!) and huge quantities of poetry (chiefly love poems for boys who didn’t love me back!).
I have now published 64 books for young readers, over a career of 40 years, and writing has continued to be the central joy of my life. As I have had another career as a college professor, my writing system has been to write for just one hour every day (well, on most days), early in the morning. I use a handcrafted cherrywood hourglass to time the hour, and I write by hand with my favorite pen on a pad of narrow-ruled paper, resting on an ancient clipboard. It works well for me to have this daily writing practice with lots of time in between writing stints to let what I have written “settle” and allow new ideas to germinate. Even if I have the whole day free to write, I still write only for an hour a day. It’s how I’ve always written, and how I think I always will.
Life Is What It's Called - What do you want readers to know about yourself?
Claudia Mills - Hmm. That’s a question I need to think about! I guess I want them to know how much love I put into each book I write, hoping that this love shines through on the pages of the published story. I rely on a trusted writing group to give me honest critique of my work so I can revise it as best as I can before I submit it to my editor. Yet despite how much I heed the comments of my writer friends, my editor always finds much to criticize! Sometimes I get discouraged and need some sulking and pouting before I’m ready to revise the book yet again (and invariably she then sends it back to me for yet more revision). But I end up feeling deeply grateful for the opportunity to make each of my books the best book possible. That is what young readers deserve, and I hope they can sense the love that went into writing every single word.
GIVEAWAY
Enter for a chance to win one ten signed paperback copies of The Last Apple Tree by Claudia Mills. But wait, there’s more! One lucky grand prize winner will get a special one-hour Zoom author visit with Claudia herself, plus signed copies of The Lost Language and a book from her wonderful chapter book series.
The Last Apple Tree: Book Giveaway
Claudia Mills - A few years ago, I saw an article in a University of Colorado newsletter about the Boulder Apple Tree Project, which is devoted to locating and preserving the county’s vanishing heirloom apple trees – one-of-a-kind trees whose genetic heritage is in danger of being lost forever. I have a weakness for people who try to save things, especially things that many people don’t know or care about. The Boulder Apple Tree Project also collects and preserves stories about these trees. This subject matter started to seem richer and richer! So I began pondering ideas for a book about an heirloom apple tree and the two seventh graders, a boy and a girl, who uncover its stories – including its secrets – when they interview her grandfather for a school oral history project.
Life Is What It's Called - How do you think The Last Apple Tree will resonate with the readers?
Claudia Mills - Both of my main characters, Sonnet and Zeke, are misfits in their middle school. Sonnet has just moved to a new town in a new state; her classmates are already formed into friendship groups. Zeke has previously been homeschooled; he, too, is an outsider. Even middle-schoolers who aren’t in a new school situation frequently feel as if they don’t “fit in” with their peers, so in this way they may identify with Zeke and Sonnet. Both Sonnet and Zeke also have difficult home situations. Sonnet, her mother, and her younger sister now live with her widowed grandfather who is still deeply grieving the recent loss of his beloved wife. Zeke’s father is highly critical of his son and engages in over-the-top environmental activism that Zeke finds embarrassing. Here, too, many adolescents feel uncomfortable in various ways within their own families. The central message of The Last Apple Tree is that belonging and healing come through honest communication – through sharing even our most painful stories and thereby allowing our families and friends to get to know us a little bit better. I think this is a message we all need to hear and one that will resonate with young readers.
Life Is What It's Called - Why is the message of The Last Apple Tree important in today's world?
Claudia Mills - We are currently living in a time of deep and seemingly unbridgeable political and cultural divides. The best way to try to connect with each other across these divides, in my view, is not through debate over whose views are the “right” ones. It’s through the sharing of personal stories, which allow us to see our commonalities despite our differences. When people of different political and religious beliefs share a meal, and in the process also share something of themselves, it’s harder to demonize those who voted for the other candidate and supported other policies. I believe that shared stories are our best hope right now.
Life Is What It's Called - If The Last Apple Tree was a food, what would it be and why?
Claudia Mills - Well, given that the star of the book is an heirloom apple tree, it’s irresistible to suggest an apple dessert. The book focuses on connections across generations, so the apple dessert should be one from bygone days that our grandparents and great-grandparents would have enjoyed. Apple crisp, apple cobbler, apple dumplings, apple brown betty – preferably served with whipped cream fresh from the family cow! I’m getting hungry just thinking about this!
Life Is What It's Called - How do you see this book being used in classrooms?
Claudia Mills - Because the events of the story are built around a middle-school language-arts unit on oral history, it is tailor-made to supplement a similar assignment in upper-elementary and middle- school classrooms. It would be a rewarding assignment to have students interview their own family members or neighbors, particularly those who are aging, to hear their untold stories before it is too late. The Author’s Note at the end of the book refers readers to the Smithsonian Institution Archives materials on “How to Do Oral History.” These include questions like the ones Sonnet and Zeke ask Sonnet’s grandfather – as well as encouragement to deviate from these when interview subjects have stories close to their hearts that they need to tell, as Gramps does here.
Life Is What It's Called - Can you tell us about your writing background?
Claudia Mills - I loved to write little books from the time I could write anything at all. I still have the first one I wrote, unimaginatively titled My Book, which contained only “nacher pictures” with one-word captions: e.g., tree, cloud, flower, sky. But at the end of this tiny book, I included an “ad card” for a future “Thick Book, 100 Pages, My Life” and “Big Book, 100 Pages, Powatree [my spelling for poetry].” I did go on to write a thick book of 100 pages about my life when I was in junior high school, one devoured by all my classmates (since they all appeared in its pages!) and huge quantities of poetry (chiefly love poems for boys who didn’t love me back!).
I have now published 64 books for young readers, over a career of 40 years, and writing has continued to be the central joy of my life. As I have had another career as a college professor, my writing system has been to write for just one hour every day (well, on most days), early in the morning. I use a handcrafted cherrywood hourglass to time the hour, and I write by hand with my favorite pen on a pad of narrow-ruled paper, resting on an ancient clipboard. It works well for me to have this daily writing practice with lots of time in between writing stints to let what I have written “settle” and allow new ideas to germinate. Even if I have the whole day free to write, I still write only for an hour a day. It’s how I’ve always written, and how I think I always will.
Life Is What It's Called - What do you want readers to know about yourself?
Claudia Mills - Hmm. That’s a question I need to think about! I guess I want them to know how much love I put into each book I write, hoping that this love shines through on the pages of the published story. I rely on a trusted writing group to give me honest critique of my work so I can revise it as best as I can before I submit it to my editor. Yet despite how much I heed the comments of my writer friends, my editor always finds much to criticize! Sometimes I get discouraged and need some sulking and pouting before I’m ready to revise the book yet again (and invariably she then sends it back to me for yet more revision). But I end up feeling deeply grateful for the opportunity to make each of my books the best book possible. That is what young readers deserve, and I hope they can sense the love that went into writing every single word.
GIVEAWAY
Enter for a chance to win one ten signed paperback copies of The Last Apple Tree by Claudia Mills. But wait, there’s more! One lucky grand prize winner will get a special one-hour Zoom author visit with Claudia herself, plus signed copies of The Lost Language and a book from her wonderful chapter book series.
The Last Apple Tree: Book Giveaway
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