'Up the Carob Tree is a novel firmly based in Western Australia. Related through the eyes of a growing child, it tells the story of a family living on the outskirts of 'an ordinary little country town' that remains nameless but could be anywhere the reader wishes to place it: anywhere with 'majestic' grain silos and a milk bar called the Rotunda with a juke box that works 'most of the time.' In due course there's a Drive –In and a new fangled establishment called a 'motel.' The four neighbouring blocks on East Quarry Road where the family lives are taken up by an assortment of people, all from 'somewhere else' with their different and colourful, sometimes mysterious backgrounds and circumstances that are of endless interest to a curious child.' (Publication summary)