Up High in the Trees by Kiara Brinkman

Up High in the Trees is a novel told from the perspective of eight-year-old Sebby Lane by Kiara Brinkman due out in July. Sebby’s mother dies suddenly and he and his father go to the family summerhouse, where Sebby writes letters to his favorite teacher back home. Described as an “unusual little boy who experiences the world more vividly than most” on the author’s website, Sebby is described as autistic elsewhere. Brinkman notes in an interview that she has worked with and tutored children on the autism spectrum, of whom she says:

Sometimes, when working with the boy I tutor, I can see him trying so hard to do whatever it is that I’m asking of him— whether it’s to take turns on a swing or respond to a question. The effort is visible in his face, and it can be overwhelming to witness how much he’s trying to be successful— and also, I suppose, to please me. I remember, one time we were in my car, on our way to his favorite pizza place, and I always try to keep talking to him and pointing things out while I’m driving. He’d been quiet for a while in the backseat so I said hi, just as a way to check in with him. Minutes passed before he responded and said, “Hi Kiara,” and just those two words meant so much to me, because I knew how hard he was working to process everything around him, including what I’d said, in order to be with me in that moment.

Some comparisons of Brinkman’s forthcoming novel to Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time stand out: Both authors have experience working with autistic children; both novels are written in the first person and from the perspective of an autistic narrator; both narrators lose their mothers; both narrators write (Christopher keeps a journal at the suggestion of his teacher, Sebby writes letters to his teacher and wrote letters to his mother). Brinkman makes these observations:

The Curious Incident seems to me to be more directly about autism. In my book, autism is the lens through which we see Sebby’s world, but it’s not something that’s ever discussed, and, in my mind, Up High is about a family’s loss and their process of grieving.

There’s also a big age difference between Haddon’s narrator and mine. The boy in Curious Incident is 15 or 16. In fact, Haddon’s is very much a coming of age story. Sebby, on the other hand, is only 8, and therefore, less self-aware. He’s just a little boy figuring out how to navigate through the world without his mother.

In an excerpt, Sebby recalls how he liked to write notes to his mother and hide them; note how the mother’s name and Sebby’s own name are played upon:

I wrote her a note that said:

To Mother,

Your name is Louise. Louise sounds like please. Louise Please. Please Louise. Tell me what does Sebastian sound like?

From, Sebby

…………………..

Mother brought me back the notes when she found them. ……………………

She said, you have a beautiful name. I can’t think of any perfect rhymes, but it goes well with captain, she said, Captain Sebastian. Or stallion. Sebastian the stallion. Or action. Sebastian full of action.

My summer reading list is growing by leaps and bounds.