The Magnificent Banyan Tree and the Green Tong Lau

A modern fable beautifully illustrated in watercolor about the residents of a Hong Kong apartment whose lives are seemingly disrupted by a hardy banyan tree that begins to grow on the building’s walls.

There once was a bird that dropped a seed into a crack in a green tong lau. Nobody noticed, not even when a spindly root sprouted from the wall and curled past The Grandpa playing mahjong on his balcony, The Aunties belting Chinese opera, The Grandma lighting incense at her altar, The Uncles hanging roast goose in their ground-floor shop window, and children playing about. The banyan tree grew and grew until one day, everyone noticed.

With luminous watercolors by Ishita Jain, this modern fable set in Hong Kong from Stephanie Ellen Sy tells the story of a resilient banyan tree and how one community comes to recognize its many gifts.