This is a book about a tree that grew in a place you wouldn't think it could. Because it was the first tree to grow there.

It's also a book about learning to accept your life and yourself when it takes turns you didn't expect.

It's about empathy for when it's someone else's life that takes those turns and ends them up in a spot that doesn't make sense to you.

It's a book about recovering from tragedy. About growing and finding beauty even when it was lonely and scary.

It's a book about how even when we're far from each other we can communicate, we can help or hurt, encourage or discourage, and that choice is ours.

It's a book that took some of the hardest experiences I had working with kids and made it a palatable, easy to digest, fun story - because it's hard to talk about the real truth sometimes, and that's okay, but it doesn't mean we ignore it because it's hard.

It's a book about finding out ways to care, because no one is too far gone, too far away from belonging, and sometimes a stories beginning can feel like an end but it's really not.

It's a book I thought was really necessary after working in a shelter, group home, and foster care... kids are often talked to like they're the problem, they're making mistakes, and they need fixing. I never saw problems, I saw resiliency, heroes of the story, strength, and potential.

I see that in all of us.

And I just want everyone else to see it too.