This fas­ci­nat­ing graph­ic nov­el fol­lows a bib­li­cal tree’s return to life. Indeed, the Judean date palm has been restored to nature through a patient, painstak­ing process that’s seen remark­able success.

Mar­tin Lemelman’s sto­ry, which could oth­er­wise be a staid account doc­u­ment­ing the research and replant­i­ng of a seed, in fact takes read­ers on an excit­ing adven­ture. It grad­u­al­ly incor­po­rates his­tor­i­cal data, research tech­niques, and arche­o­log­i­cal infor­ma­tion. It is a fab­u­lous tale with dynam­ic illus­tra­tions that enhance the jour­ney with­out over­whelm­ing it or dimin­ish­ing its impact. And despite its depic­tion of the trag­ic destruc­tion of Jerusalem and the mar­tyr­dom at Masa­da, the book is, on the whole, pos­i­tive, hope­ful, and joyous.

Lemel­man skill­ful­ly weaves togeth­er the unlike­ly sto­ry of the efforts of two female sci­en­tists with the con­tri­bu­tions of arche­ol­o­gists. The result is an account that is so fas­ci­nat­ing that read­ers, adults and chil­dren alike, will be amazed at how much infor­ma­tion they have absorbed.