The Family Tree Will Always Grow

A Simple Song Becomes a New Children’s Book based on the song “The Family Tree” by Venice that helped the whole family get through tough times.

In times of grief and loss, the healing power of music has been found to transcend all ages, cultures, and boundaries. For children, coping with a loss can be traumatic. A hug offers comfort, but compassionate and meaningful words help their young hearts understand. Since 1999, the song “The Family Tree.” by the Southern California band Venice, has been helping people transform a painful experience into peace and acceptance with simple words and a simple melody. This book was written to help kids cope with grief and loss. In addition to the lyrics, it contains color illustrations that kids of all ages can easily follow in a story about a family of birds, their nest, loss, and a new life.

Authors: 

Michael Lennon (Author), Kipp Lennon (Author), Mark Lennon (Author), John Vester (Author), Kate Birch (Illustrator)

About Author/Artist:

Venice is a band from Venice Beach, California that consists of two sets of brothers: Michael and Mark Lennon, and their cousins, Kipp and Pat Lennon. As a band, the Lennons have recorded and performed together since the 1980s. Their music reflects many of their influences while growing up in the small, eclectic and culturally diverse beach town for which they are named. Venice’s sound is at once familiar and fresh, their classic rock and folk influences apparent in their pop sensibilities. Their hybrid of folk/rock/soul is relevant, alive and still growing, with many fans worldwide considering them the torchbearers of the Southern California, west coast sound.

Together or individually, they have performed and/or recorded with Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr, Michael Jackson, David Crosby, Stevie Nicks, Jackson Browne, Brian Wilson, Don Henley, Elton John, Michael McDonald, Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Ambrosia, Heart, Cher, Rick Springfield, America, toured with Pink Floyd’s “Roger Waters’ The Wall” project, and contributed to the 2014 compilation album, Looking Into You: A Tribute To Jackson Browne along with Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Don Henley, Ben Harper and Lyle Lovett in contributing.

Their song “The Family Tree” was first released in 1999 on their album “Spin Art” and after 25+ years of live performances, countless memorial recitals, with OVER 3.6 MILLION plays on Spotify and 1.2 MILLION Youtube views, “The Family Tree” continues to unite people who hunger for the strength to keep moving forward in life despite their loss.

 Additional info/testimonials/quotes

Co-author Kipp Lennon writes: “When we first wrote the song ‘The Family Tree’ for our band, Venice, it was a very personal song meant to be a loving tribute to those in our family that have passed on as well as a song of strength, shared loss and hope for those still here. Much to our surprise, this simple, personal song took on a life of its own as we watched it resonate and connect with people from all around the world in ways we never could have imagined. It turned out to be about their families too.”