Harvey-born author Karys McEwen’s second book, The Paperbark Tree Committee, celebrates memories of Harvey

A new book celebrates the ups and downs of growing up as an older sibling, with influences of a childhood in Harvey. The Paperbark Tree Committee is Karys McEwen’s second book to be published exploring the challenges young people may face when growing up through the lens of a brotherly relationship. McEwen said the main character is named Art and is just starting high school, feeling like he is growing apart from his younger brother. “As he gets older he feels like he can’t play the silly games that they play, because he feels pressure to grow up a little bit and be a bit more mature,” she said. “So it’s kind of about figuring that out and being mates with your sibling with the ups and downs as well.” Whilst the book is set in McEwen’s current home Melbourne, parts of the story come from memories of her time growing up in Harvey — much like her first book, All the Tricky Little Things. “In the backyard of one of my family friend’s houses in Harvey was a big paperbark tree that my sister and I, and the two kids from that family, would climb and make up all these imaginary games,” she said. “It was a very special place, and in the book, the paperbark tree is symbolic of an adult-free space, a place that the two brothers go to just be kids and have fun.” McEwen said she wanted to tell a story about siblings, herself being an older sister, and the story came to her through her role as a school librarian. “One day a young boy came in looking for a book. He wanted a book about an ordinary teenage boy, with ordinary teenage problems,” she said. “He wanted a quiet story, and I could find a lot of stuff with girls as the protagonists, but I couldn’t find any that had a boy as the protagonist. “So, I kind of ended up writing the story for him, because I couldn’t find it.” McEwen said she recently returned to Harvey for the shire’s Literacy Festival where she was able to speak to several local schools and participate in meet-the-author events. “It was so nice to be able to talk to these kids and and show them that I grew up in the South West,” she said. “I grew up in little old Harvey and if they have dreams of being a writer themselves, then they can achieve them,” she said. “If it made a difference to just one kid who came to one of those talks then that means everything.”