[#WorldKidLit Wednesday] Reviving A Centuries-Old Tree in Puerto Rico

Myra here.

I have always mentioned repeatedly to friends and fellow bibliophiles that ‘home is where the books are.’ Hence, the theme #ReadYourWayHome2024 seems apt. Tapping into the complexities and nuances of my cultural realities, I have broken down this larger theme to places and spaces I consider home – being born and raised in the Philippines, and having lived in Singapore for 11 years, and now in the UAE for nearly 5 years – I have come up with the additional hashtags: #SoutheastAsianLit2024, #ArabLit2024, #MiddleEasternLit2024, #TranslatedLit2024, and #DecolonizeBookshelf2024.

I am currently leading a Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (2023) project with students from our college. We are curating a set of diverse picturebook titles published over the past 13 years (2010-2023) that portray the 17 SDGs and three additional themes that the research team had come up with. I have created the above page to share our booklist with everyone once the research is completed.

This nonfiction picturebook, is a good fit for SDG 15: Life On Land and SDG 17: Partnership for the Goals.

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The Tree of Hope: The Miraculous Rescue of Puerto Rico’s Beloved Banyan (Amazon)

Written by Anna Orenstein-Cardona Illustrated by Juan Manuel Moreno
Published by Beaming Books (2022) ISBN: 9781506484099 (ISBN10: 1506484093) Bought a copy of the book. Book photos taken by me.

Last week, I shared the picturebook biography (Amazon) created by David Unger and Marta Álvarez Miguéns of Chef José Andrés, humanitarian-extraordinaire, whose efforts to feed the people of Puerto Rico (along with his organization, World Central Kitchen) when Hurricane Maria hit the Caribbean island on 2017 was mentioned. And then I recalled purchasing this book a few years back, and knew I had to find and feature it.

The jagüey blanco, or banyan tree, had been a stalwart sanctuary for the people of Puerto Rico for over a century. As the image above shows, this magnificent tree has bore witness to the passing of time, the changing of seasons, the evolution of human beings through the years. The deep and intimate connection of the author with this landmark icon of the city can be discerned through her descriptions of how the tree’s presence represents the pulse of this bustling community. This is further seen in the author’s Afterword which seems like a love letter to this banyan tree and to Puerto Rico, where Anna Orenstein-Cardona was born and raised.

When Hurricane Maria hit, the story indicated how hopeful people were that the banyan tree would be able to withstand the ravages of nature; after all, it has stood firm and grounded for over a century. However, a hurricane of Maria’s magnitude proved to be quite catastrophic – not just for the human inhabitants of Puerto Rico – but also to this massive banyan tree that had been uprooted, its branches blown to the ether.

Even as the community struggled to rebuild their own homes and businesses (and continue to do so even to the present time), they all came together to determine how this ancient tree can be saved, its roots replanted into the earth, and figure out a way to give it the space to stand mighty and proud once again.

There is an Afterword that provides more details about the banyan tree’s history, the havoc wrought by the hurricane, and how the people rallied together to find experts who could help them give new life to this uprooted tree that now serves as a beacon of hope to a people ravaged, yet they remain standing, their roots firmly planted on the ground they call home.

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#ReadYourWayHome2024 Update: 24 out of 100