Branches is a novel-in-verse by American author Mitch Cullin

Mitch Cullin

Mitch Cullin is an American writer of Scotch-Irish and Cherokee descent. He is the author of seven novels, and one short story collection. He currently resides in Arcadia, California and Tokyo, Japan with his partner and frequent collaborator Peter I. Chang...

, with illustrations by the Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 artist Ryuzo Kikushima. It is the second installment of the writer's Texas Trilogy that also includes the coming-of-age football novel Whompyjawed

Whompyjawed

Whompyjawed is the debut novel by American author Mitch Cullin. It is the first installment of the writer's Texas Trilogy that also includes the dark novel-in-verse Branches and the surrealistic novel Tideland....

and the surrealistic novel Tideland

Tideland

Tideland is the third published book by author Mitch Cullin, and is the third installment of the writer's Texas Trilogy that also includes the coming-of-age novel Whompyjawed and the novel-in-verse Branches....

.

In a 2000 interview with the Austin Chronicle

Austin Chronicle

The Austin Chronicle is an alternative weekly, tabloid-style newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demographic...

, Cullin stated that his first novel Whompyjawed

Whompyjawed

Whompyjawed is the debut novel by American author Mitch Cullin. It is the first installment of the writer's Texas Trilogy that also includes the dark novel-in-verse Branches and the surrealistic novel Tideland....

 was a more accurate reflection of West Texas

West Texas

West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....

 while Branches, he was quoted as saying, "is kind of, maybe to a fault, what other people who haven't really been there might think it's like."

Branches was first published in March 2000 as a hardcover

Hardcover

A hardcover, hardback or hardbound is a book bound with rigid protective covers...

edition from The Permanent Press.