The Liking Tree: A Kids & Social Media Fable Returns

All-New Second Edition: Totally Refreshed Art + Same Weird Heart

Jul 27, 2025

I’m happy to announce that The Liking Tree — my picture book about kids, screens, and the bottomless hunger for digital attention — has been re-released. For this second edition, I’ve re-illustrated the entire book myself. (Because yes, I’m a hopeless control freak.) It’s now on sale at major online booksellers.

A Little Backstory

The Liking Tree, my playfully dystopian, Facebook-flavored spin on The Giving Tree, was first published in late February of 2020 — just days before COVID-19 shut down the world. With schools suddenly closed and every kid on Earth glued to screens while mom and dad heavily self-medicated with sourdough, this was a no-good, terrible time to release a cautionary fable about social media. The launch fizzled. I moved on.

But now, five years later, I decided to pick up a pencil (okay, a stylus) and re-illustrate the entire book to launch my forthcoming Screen Time Tales series. The 2020 edition’s illustrations were great, but I wanted to take a crack at it in my own scrappy, kinda unhinged style—the one I’d originally pictured while writing it. And honestly? I’m pretty chuffed with how it turned out. I hope you like it, too.

Kudos

“An inoculation against social media’s seductive pull—and a great conversation starter for people of all ages. (Kids, your parents should pay attention to its message, too!)”
Catherine Price
Author, How to Break Up With Your Phone

“Bravo! Brilliantly conveys the dark side of social media to young readers.”
Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, Author of Glow Kids

The Story

When two children befriend a strange tree, they quickly become enchanted by its flattery and dazzling distractions. But time goes by, and as the tree’s true nature is revealed, the children must decide whether to live by its lonely rules, or walk away and rediscover the joys of real life and true friendship.

DOWNLOAD PDF PREVIEW

For more information, please visit The Liking Tree page on my website.

Thanks for supporting The Liking Tree and my ongoing weirdo contributions to try to help tame the screen/social/interweb beast. More Screen Time Tales are coming soon. Until then: read freely, scroll doomlessly.

- John

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