AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Five Fun Facts with Nancy I. Sanders about THE VERY OLDEST PEAR TREE

Today I’m delighted to have best-selling picture book author Nancy I. Sanders here to share five fun facts about her latest picture book release, THE VERY OLDEST PEAR TREE. Illustrated by Yasmin Imamura and published by Albert Whitman and Company, it’s just the kind of historical picture book I would have read to my students back when I was a fourth grade teacher.  Here’s the official description per the publisher’s website:

“In the 1630s in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Puritan settler planted a pear tree—the first pear tree in America. More than a century later, the tree still bore fruit, impressing a famous poet and one of the first US presidents. The pear tree survived hurricanes, fire, and vandalism, and today, more than 350 years after it was first planted, it’s alive and strong, and clones of it grow all around the US. This is the amazing true story of the Endicott Pear tree, and how it grew up with our nation.“

Now grab a pear (for it’s the season!) as she shares five fun facts about the this amazing tree and the interesting discoveries she made.  My favorite?  Fact #3. I just love how Nancy’s inquisitive mind, not only led her to write the book, but it also led to the planting of Endicott trees in two national parks where the history of the tree had been lost! Thank you, Nancy for sharing this story with the world!

Five Fun Facts about The Very Oldest Pear Tree.

Written by Nancy I. Sanders.

Art by Yasmin Imamura.

Fun Fact #1

The nonfiction picture book, The Very Oldest Pear Tree, first started out as a picture book about apple trees! I had read somewhere that the Pilgrims planted apple trees, so I thought that would make a terrific picture book. But when I started researching this topic, I discovered all the apple trees died that the Pilgrims planted. However, an article showed up in my Google search about a pear tree the Puritans planted—that is STILL ALIVE nearly 400 years later! I was hooked and wanted to tell its story.

Fun Fact #2

Family members, descendants of Governor John Endecott who planted the tree in 1632, still help take care of the tree today (along with others). William T. Endicott is the current President of the John Endicott Family Association.

Fun Fact #3

Clones of the Endicott pear tree have been planted since writing this book. In my research, I discovered that twigs were cut from the original Endicott pear tree, gifted to John Adams, and planted by the former President himself on his farm in Quincy. I contacted the Adams National Historical Park to see if these pear trees were still alive. They weren’t, and the current staff at the park had never even heard of this story. They immediately looked up the research themselves, discovered that these pear trees had been actually planted, and said they wanted to plant clones of the pear tree today! Through contact with William T. Endicott and members of the Endicott family, arrangements were made with not just one, but two national parks, to plant about a dozen Endicott Pear Trees in the spring of 2020: The Adams National Historic Park, and the Minute Man National Historic Park.

Fun Fact #4

Growing up on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania, we had two pear trees. They were in the pasture for our horse and pony. I remember climbing up a tall ladder with a basket to pick pears each summer. At that time, I didn’t know there weren’t any pear trees in America until the day the Endicott pear tree was shipped over from England. Planted in 1632, the Endicott pear tree is the very oldest pear tree in America!

Fun Fact #5

The Endicott pear tree cannot bear fruit without a second pear tree near by. So when I started asking people where this second pear tree is—nobody knows! This is a mystery just waiting to be discovered!!!! It would be fun to go on a treasure hunt in the neighborhood one day to find it. 

Thanks, Laura, for featuring my newest book here on your blog! It was so much fun, and that’s a fact!

And it was my pleasure to have you here!

Nancy I. Sanders loves to go on treasure hunts to dig up interesting facts for kids to know. Lots of times she and her husband get to take trips to research everything they want to learn about the books she is writing. They traveled to Danvers, Massachusetts, to visit the Endicott Pear Tree while writing this book. When she wrote, Jane Austen for Kids, they flew to London and walked in Jane’s footsteps all over England in the places she lived or visited. Nancy is the bestselling and award-winning children’s author of over 100 books. Visit her website to find out more at www.nancyisanders.com.