Author addresses serious issues through personification

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Katherine Applegate wrote an award-winning bestseller about animal rights from the perspective of a gorilla. And then one about child poverty through the lens of a giant, jellybean-loving cat. For her latest book, fed up with the anti-immigrant rhetoric she heard on the presidential campaign trail, she spoke through a tree.

That book, “Wishtree,” tells the story of Red, a centuries-old oak tree that watches as a Muslim family that moves in below its branches is not welcomed by some in the community. Even as Red’s future is in doubt, the tree — and the many creatures who make it a home — band together to help the family’s 10year-old daughter.

“I was so frustrated by everything,” she said. “I wanted to vent, and it was the place for me to do it.”

Ms. Applegate will speak Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall in Oakland. The free event is part of RADical days but advanced reservations are recommended. Reservations can be made online or by calling 412-622-8866.

Ms. Applegate, a Michigan native who now lives in Tiburon, Calif., got her start as a ghostwriter penning less literary fare: psychology quizzes in YM magazine, the “Sweet Valley Twins” series and Mickey Mouse books for Disney.

She wrote with her husband, Michael Grant, whom she met in college at the University of Texas. The two decided to write their own series, and stumbled upon a hit in Animorphs, a science fiction series about a group of friends who can morph into animals, which encompassed more than 50 books and spinoffs and became a Nickelodeon television show. They wrote other successful series, including Remnants and Everworld, before they decided to write independently.

Her first attempt was “Home of the Brave,” a novel “written in free verse about a Sudanese refugee, guaranteed to be a best-