The Third Gift by Linda Sue Park & Bagram Ibatoulline
Clarion Books, Boston MA, 2011
Hardback, 32 pages
ISBN: 13 digits
Suggested reading age: 9+
Reviewed by: Indrani Perera
Rating: ****
A young boy journeys across the desert with his father, collecting tears. The tears are pearls of sap that seep from a stunted, knotty, spiny tree when his father cuts the bark with his axe. His father knows by smelling a leaf and feeling the bark, which trees we give the best tears. The tears dry on the tree and are broken off quickly and carefully. They are used for medicines, to flavour wines and the most expensive ones are used for funerals. However, this time, the biggest tear has another destiny.
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